Food On Fridays ~ let's talk about food

Today is Food On Fridays carnival over at Ann Kroeker's blog.  I had so many food related blog posts this week, that I figured it would be easier to link them all here before linking to Food on Fridays....

I started off this week talking about my struggles with menu planning in the past weeks.  I was even considering skipping planning a menu this week since I was having such a difficult time making a plan and sticking with it. 

I decided to not give up and tried again.  So far, I'm doing pretty good.  There's going to be a slight change in the plan for tonight, though.  I had planned Applesauce Chicken, but forgot that starting with frozen chicken is best.  Since I already thawed the chicken, I'll make something else with that tonight.  And I'll make the Applesauce Chicken tomorrow night or possibly Sunday night. 

The extra chicken meal this week, means that something else will be dropped from the plan.  Looking at what I have left on my list, I'm guessing we'll skip the grilled cheese sandwiches.  Works out great since I don't have enough cheese in the lunch meat bin.  Grace and I  had grilled cheese the other day for lunch and Joe used up some cheese on his hamburgers.  Also, I've been giving Grace a slice with her lunch or dinner.  So we went through 1/2 lb. of cheese really fast this week!  And since we already had Crunchy Tuna Salad sandwiches for dinner last night, we don't really need another "sandwich dinner" this week.  I'll serve tonight's chicken with the leftover pasta salad and macaroni salad, just like I planned to do with the grilled cheese sandwiches.  So, that wasn't too much of a change. 

Earlier in the week, I shared pictures of Grace's Sweet Shoppe Birthday party.  We had a candy buffet set up for the kids (and adults) to help themselves to some sweet treats!  I tried to include some vintage penny candy to make it fun for the adults!  What's your favorite "penny candy"? 

In my post about a FREE redbox movie rental (valid 6/21 only), I talked about movie candy.  What movie is complete without a box of Raisinets?  Or Twizzlers?  Or Snowcaps?  Or.....? 

Okay, so I guess you are realizing that I am a junk food junkie!  That secret was bound to come out sooner or later.  :)  But I do like some healthy stuff too!  Especially, when coupons are involved!  Head over to my Cheerios post to find out where to sign up to get 4 coupons for $1 off Cheerios...and to enter to win a FREE box.  This is all part of their Begin with your Heart program. 

Whew!  Now I'm hungry!  Off to grab a yogurt and fix Grace some breakfast! 

Morton Hot Salt ~ Don't leave home without it!

This week, I've been working hard on my pantry project. I posted a sneak peek here.  It's taking a while, since my pantry is in the basement and with Grace toddling around these days, I can't really leave her alone upstairs while I work downstairs. So, I've been running up and down trying to get a bit done here and there. I'm about half finished.

Grace woke up super early this morning, so I am hoping to get her down for an early nap so I can get more accomplished with the pantry. I'd like to get it done this weekend so I can take some pictures and blog about it!

For now, I want to talk about food! Spicy food!

I really enjoy spicy food. Not over-the-top spicy foods. You know, the kinds that make you sweat! Or the kind that makes you want to drink an entire gallon of milk to kill the heat. To me, that's not enjoyable! Save that gallon of milk for a really rich, double chocolate cake! Mmmm!

I just like a little bit of "heat" to my foods, you know, normal heat!  But my "normal" is sometimes a little too spicy for some of my friends.  Then you have my nephews, they put hot sauce on everything!  I think they go through a large bottle a week! 

For a while, Joe was coming home with different hot sauces every time he went shopping.  Different brands that we just HAD to try! 

A few summers ago, Joe bought a bottle of Morton Hot Salt.  I laughed at him, told him he was taking his obsession with HOT a bit far!  He told me to try it on corn on the cob!  MMmmm!  I was hooked!  Since then, I always add this to my corn on the cob!  Love it!  I want some now, but our grocery store was sold out of corn yesterday.  Boooo! 

I keep joking that we need to keep a spare bottle of this in the truck for when we go to family cook outs!

I really like this on popcorn instead of plain salt and it's really good on Cornbread Casserole, baked potatoes and french fries!

I just noticed today, that they have some recipes on the Morton Salt website using Morton Hot Salt. I'll have to get a better look later and see what I'll add to next week's menu plan!

I'll be linking this post to Food on Fridays.

A Week of Food

Some weeks it seems to be all about food!  Do you ever feel that way?  Between the weekly menu planning, shopping lists, preparing and cleaning up the meal.  That's not even counting the actual eating of the food! 

Anyway, since it's been a while since I participated, I decided to a "week in review" all about food!

Last Saturday, we had company for dinner.  When I planned last week's meal plan, I decided to make All Day Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce on Saturday.  I figured Joe and I would have that for dinner over pasta and whatever sauce was leftover, I'd divide into smaller portions and freeze. 

Since I was already planning on making the sauce and knowing it makes a lot, we invited our very good friends over for dinner.  Having the sauce cook all day in the crock pot really made getting dinner to the table easy when our guests arrived.  All I had to do was pop the garlic bread into the oven and boil the pasta. 

This week, I planned a few meals knowing that I wanted to use my new Le Creuset baking dish that I received from CSN Stores to review.  You can read about it here. 

In the dish, I made an apple crisp.  The recipe I found online was too sweet.  It was tasty, but a bit too sweet.  Even for me!  So, I'm looking for an easy, not too sweet, apple crisp recipe.  Anyone have a tried and true recipe they'd like to share? 

I also made green bean casserole in the dish.  Mmmm.  I love green bean casserole.  I make it every year for Thanksgiving and try to remember to make it a couple more times through the year.  I usually have all the ingredients on hand, too.  I just need to remember to make it more often! 

I made stuffed peppers this week.  I misplaced my notes that I scribbled as I combined two different recipes, plus a few of my own ideas when I made them.  They turned out just a bit dry, so I want to make another batch of them soon and tweak the recipe just a bit more.  I'll try not to misplace my notes the next time! 

After reading my friend Lisa's post about twice baked potatoes.  I just knew I had to make some soon!  Since I follow a recipe that calls for 8 potatoes, I usually make them in the summer when we have friends over and barbecue.  Eight potatoes is just too many for the two of us.  Rather than cut the recipe in half, I decided to freeze some before the second baking.  Mmmm!  You can read about them here. 

I made a tasty and easy Ham and Cabbage Skillet dinner for St. Patrick's Day.  It's traditional in flavor and ingredients, but a little different in method. 

After dinner,  I filled my crock-pot with frozen vegetable scraps to make homemade vegetable broth.  I have more frozen scraps in the basement freezer too.  I should plan to make more next week. 

So, that's the week so far.  Lot's of talk about food. 

For more recipes, be sure to check out my other blog:  My Vintage Kitchen. 

I'll be linking this post to the following blog carnivals: 

• Food on Friday, 3/19/10
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 3/23/10
• Tasty Tuesday, 3/23/10
• Tuesdays at the Table, 3/23/10

15-Minute Tackle + Food Round Up

I really feel as if I've neglected this blog this week. 

I've been putting off posting about last week's 15-Minute Tackle.  Mainly because it took me until THIS week to complete only one portion of it.  I planned on getting the guest room decluttered and I also wanted to work on thank you cards. 

The guest room is clean, still a little cluttered but that's not likely to change unless we move the computer to another room.  We don't have another room. 

The thank you cards are started.  Not finished. 

So, I guess we'll say that is my 15-Minute Tackle for this week.  FINISHING thank you cards...plus getting the house ready for Super Bowl Sunday.  I'm not going crazy with that though.  Taking it easy on myself!  Head on over to The Domestic Contessa to learn more about the 15-Minute Tackle! 

While I'm admitting defeat, I guess I should also say that I'm not doing well with cutting back on junk food and soda.   While I'm cooking healthier dinners, I'm still snacking ALL day and just can't kick the soda habit! 

Another reason for my neglecting this blog is because I've been cooking up a storm!  Since my other blog is my recipe blog, that's where I've been this week! 

Here's what's been cookin': 

Asian-Style Pepper Steak

Crock-Pot Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup

another Crock-Pot recipe!

Chicken Rice Soup

I also made home-made chicken broth for the second time ever in two weeks!  I'm pretty impressed with myself as far as that's concerned.  I do plan on doing a blog post about my chicken broth, but I just haven't gotten to it yet.  Not with posting all those other recipes. 

As I mentioned before, we don't go out to eat nearly as often as we did before we bought our house.  I cook most nights and the nights I don't cook, we're eating leftovers.  I usually stick to the basics and occasionally try a new recipe here or there.  But all of those new recipes in such a short period of time...that's a record for me! 

Be sure to click the links under the pictures of the recipes.  That will take you over to my other blog (My Vintage Kitchen) that is dedicated to recipes (and kitchen stuff).   

This blog post will be shared with the following blog carnivals: 

• 15-Minute Tackle
• Food On Friday

Food On Fridays: A Lot of Talk About Food

I realized this week that I talk about food a lot! I thought it was just something that happened when I talk to my Gram on the phone, because my Gram talks about food A LOT. But no, it's not just her. Apparently, this is another trait I've picked up from her. (My mom tells me that we are a lot alike.)

So, I figured that my post for this week's Food On Fridays with Ann, I would recap all of my food talk between this blog and my other blog.

Let's start here Under the Big Oak Tree:

Monday:

• I talked about my menu plan for the week and also suggested a frugal alternative for Take Out.

Tuesday:

• I shared a tip about reviving stale crackers and also talked about our Souper Bowl Party we hosted back in February.

Wednesday:

• I shared a link for a free sample of Rachel Ray Nutrish Dog Food (okay pushing it there with the food related topic....LOL! But dogs gotta eat too!) and also a link to enter to win Free Cupcakes from Little Debbie!

Thursday:

• I participated in the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods. Here's the link to my post about Super Foods.

And today, Friday:

• I shared a quick and easy sandwich recipe: Alison's Gizmo Sandwich.

Now to recap My Vintage Kitchen's food related posts:

Monday:

• I shared a recipe for Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots and Onions as well as a recipe for Easy Tomato-Bacon Pasta Sauce.

Tuesday:

• I gave you another yummy pasta recipe: Pasta with Sauteed Chicken and Vegetables.

Wednesday:

• Finished it all with a nice, sticky sweet dessert recipe: Jen's Gooey Butter Cake. Mmmmmm!

Now, that's a lot of talk about food, don't ya think! Gram would be proud! I'll have to call her this weekend and fill her in!