On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 4 - 2015

Last week just seemed to fly by, not sure why? Of course we didn't get to everything we wanted to, and having my parents in town changed things up a bit, but we had a good week. We did not get to HH on Wednesday, we are going to try again this week, but I am not holding my breath with this group. We also did not make the walleye, again, because I wound up picking my parents up from the airport, so I just grabbed takeout on the way home.  Friday, we had two couples for dinner and we had such a good time. I have been craving Ina Garten's lamb roast, and it turned out really well and we had people going back for thirds even.  

I also did a crostini bar for appetizers. We had leftover beef tenderloin which was perfect, along with some cave blue cheese, horseradish and olive tapenade. Next time I think I would add garlic roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions and a brie, or some kind of cheese.   

    The salad that we started with was a recipe from my favorite local grocery store. Blueberry, Manchego, Walnut Salad. I loved the dressing for this salad, it was delicious. Dessert was very easy, we just had chocolate truffles with mixed berries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. It was a really nice evening. We needed a refresher in our guest bathroom, so I bought a new shower curtain, new rug and new shower hooks. It really brightened things up! A nice inexpensive change!

Saturday, after our family friends funeral, we stopped in to my sisters to see her new kitten, she is SO cute! Really takes me back to when Stella was that small. 

After we decided to catch Birdman. We like to try to see all of the movies that are nominated for the Oscars. We enjoyed this one, Scott more than I did, but I can definitely see why Michael Keaton was nominated. After we grabbed a bite to eat out, nothing fancy, but it was good.

Sunday we had a family lunch to celebrate G & G's birthdays. I cannot believe they will be 14 on Thursday. But boy, can you tell they are teenagers. I don't remember being so grumpy all the time at that age, but they really aren't a lot of fun. Grant would not even take a picture with me.

I started getting a tickle in my throat last night, and I am not feeling that great today, so not sure if our plans this week will hold up, but fingers crossed. 

Monday Plans - Our neighbors just got back from a two week cruise, so they are coming over to tell us about their travels.  Breakfast and Lunch - Fruit, Leftovers from Saturday, spaghetti and meatball Dinner - Joey Nova's pizza, our favorite Tuesday Plans - We have not taken advantage of the $5 movie night at our local theater yet, and Scott is really looking forward to seeing American Sniper.  Breakfast and Lunch - Egg and Fruit, Leftovers, probably broccoli and something Dinner - Yard House, I love this place Wednesday Plans - we are going to try, for the third week in a row, to get together with former co-workers for HH. Can't believe that we have such a hard time getting together.  Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, leftovers and a salad Dinner - HH @ Bacio Thursday Plans - getting together with a girlfriend who I always enjoy seeing for HH. Breakfast and Lunch - eggs, fruit, leftovers and a salad Dinner - using up some of the leftover lamb and making gyros Friday Plans - oh boy am I in for fun now. I have a root canal scheduled for the afternoon, so it will be a low key night with some DVR or movies on demand. Breakfast and Lunch - eggs, fruit, salad Dinner - I am thinking the only thing I am going to feel like eating is soup. Saturday and Sunday Plans - We haven't made plans yet for the weekend. I am sure we will try to get another movie or two in that have been nominated for awards. For more meal plans and links to recipes, check out the orgjunkie.

On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 3 - 2015

I didn't get to make everything I wanted to last week, but here were a couple of favorites!   Pan fried bone in organic chicken thighs, seasoned with Flavorgod Everything seasoning, roasted broccoli with lemon and pan roasted butternut squash. This made great leftovers as well. 

 Oven roasted pork tenderloin with red peppers and onions. Acorn squash with ghee and roasted brussel sprouts. This was SOOOO good! We both loved it!

  We had a fantastic weekend! Friday I had done some running around for our dinner party on Saturday. I picked up a couple of salads for dinner and we were going to just pop in a frozen pizza for dinner, but we decided to try a new place not far from us called Living Waters, which also has a yoga studio. Lets just say, they should stick with yoga. I could not even eat one slice, all you could taste was raw pizza dough. We even put it back in the oven and cooked it further, but yuck. I hate to throw out food, and we tried a few neighbors, but no takers, so we literally threw out a almost a whole pizza. Sad, but it was awful!  Saturday we spent the morning getting some errands and shopping done for our dinner party. We were supposed to have a chef come in and prepare dinner for 12 of us, but our chef, along with two of his kids got the flu, so I had to pinch hit. We came up with the menu Friday and I made the potato dish and the salmon spread in preparation. I asked one of our neighbors grandsons to come over and help with prep work, serving and clean up. It was the third time he has come to help with something like this, and he is absolutely wonderful and a huge help! Dinner worked out really well, we had a smoked salmon spread on endive, paired with a really nice sparkling wine from New Mexico, a mashed potato dish, I had picked up the recipe the week before from one of our Trader Joe's. It had broccoli, leaks and cave blue cheese, it went really nicely with the beef tenderloin with a mushroom madeira reduction that I made and roasted asparagus. We did a salad course with Kung Fu Riesling, a nice dry Riesling, loved it. The main course we paired with a Mount Vedeer Cabernet and then we had a  dark chocolate cake with a butter cream frosting, paired with The Velvet Devil Merlot. It was a really good time and a great group of people.   

Sunday, our friend Carrie was in town visiting her boyfriend, so we met up with them for lunch at The Bonefish Grill which is new to us here, they just opened a couple of months ago. We have been twice and just love the food. After a bite to eat we went to see Wild with my girl Reese. Pretty good movie. I think she will get an Oscar nod. When we got home, we had Boyhood from Redbox so we watched that before the Golden Globes came on, and we both loved that. Trying to make sure we get all of our "Oscar" movies in. Can't wait to see who will be up! I have set some goals (once again) around meal planning, as best I can. I want to try a new recipe at least once a week. Have one chicken meal, one fish meal, one crock pot/braised meal and one soup or stew. This week we have plans a few nights, so I am doing my best to squeeze these things in.  

Monday

Plans - Home, I need to work on my planner and goals for 2015

Breakfast and Lunch - Clementines, Pear and chicken salad with a vinaigrette (this is a pre-made salad from our local store, they are SO good).

Dinner - Chicken and Pasta with a Champagne Cream Sauce I am changing this up a little to include leftover ingredients I have on hand. We have a half of a bottle of sparkling wine left over from Saturday so I thought it would be a good use of it. I am also going to use pasta I have on hand, add some chicken and try thyme instead of sage. I also will add some of the leftover asparagus. If  had mushrooms, I would add those as well, but I am sure it will be good. 

Tuesday

Plans - Neighborhood Bunco night. This is always one of my favorite nights of the month, looking forward to seeing the girls!

Breakfast and Lunch - Eggs and bacon, fruit. Leftovers (clean the fridge out - unless I pick up another salad!)

Dinner - Usually it is just snacky foods at Bunco. I am bringing Cheesy Beer Smokies I think it seems like something that the girls will like!

Wednesday

Plans - We weren't able to get together for HH last week, it was SOOOOO cold, I was happy to not have to leave the house! BUT, the good news is, more people can make it this week!

Breakfast and Lunch - Eggs and bacon with fruit and a salad

Dinner - Bacio for HH

Thursday

Plans - Hoping to catch up on some things at home and get ready for a dinner party Friday night. 

Breakfast and Lunch - Eggs and bacon and salad

Dinner - Walleye. We didn't have this last week, and I am still working on cleaning out the freezer. 

Friday

Plans - Carrie and Scott are coming for dinner along with another couple, Mike and Kelly. Looking forward to seeing them, it is a fun group!

Breakfast and Lunch - Eggs and bacon with fruit and soup or a salad if there aren't leftovers. 

Dinner - I have not come up with the menu yet, but I am sure it will be good!

Saturday and Sunday

Plans - my mom and dad are flying up from AZ on Thursday to attend a good friends funeral. So my sister and I will be going with them to the services, just waiting on details. So keeping most of the weekend open to spend with them.

For more meal planning and links to recipes - check out the Orgjunkie.

   

On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 20

We had an action packed weekend, but it was a ton of fun.    Friday we attended the 19th annual Winefest which is a fundraiser which supports the University of MN - Children's Hospital. They have over 400 wonderful wines, food from some of the best restaurants in town and awesome silent and live auction items. We had a wonderful night!  

Saturday we spent the day running errands and getting ready for friends to come for dinner and game night. A few weeks ago we took an awesome cooking class with wine pairings. I have been dying to recreate the menu at home.   

 

The first course was a french brie, a robiola and an alemar cheese with blackberries, strawberries and barrel aged honey paired with Charles K Voigner (all of the wines were Charles Smith wines, delicious!)  

The second course was roasted peaches with seared scallops and micro greens paired with Kung Fu Girl Riesling. The next course was a roasted boneless lamb roast and roasted fingerling potatoes. I made this recipe back in January and the boy and I loved it. We paired this with K Syrah. Dessert was coconut dark chocolate truffles and carrot cake truffles paired with The Velvet Devil merlot. It was a really nice night and so fun to do a dinner with pairings like that.  Sunday was Mother's day. We took both sets of parents out to brunch and had a lot of fun catching up with everyone over a really nice brunch. 

Here is what we have planned for this week!

Monday
Plans - Home, laundry FUN stuff!
Breakfast and Lunch - Berries, english muffin, chicken pasta salad
Dinner - Grilled chicken ravioli, pesto, roasted tomatoes and fresh mozzarella

Tuesday
Plans - Our new sectional is being delivered for the living room, I cannot wait. Then we just have the finishing touches. I absolutely love the way this room has come together. Bunco night! I am bringing a big pitcher of margaritas and margarita dip with strawberries.
Breakfast and Lunch - I have oatmeal I really need to eat. Leftover soup chicken tortilla soup from last week.
Dinner - Bunco bites

Wednesday
Plans - Maybe a movie, depends on the weather really. If it is nice a walk. Lowe's for mulch!
Breakfast and Lunch - More oatmeal, fresh berries, leftover lamb
Dinner -  Homemade margarita pizza Smashburger - we need to go get a ton of mulch at Lowe's.

Thursday
Plans - Cards with the neighbor girls
Breakfast and Lunch - Oatmeal with fresh berries, leftover chicken tortilla soup
Dinner - Turkey tacos (I love taco night)

Friday
Plans -Waiting to hear back from friends on dinner plans.
Breakfast and Lunch - more oatmeal until it is gone, but I will miss my cottage cheese and berries so that will be lunch.
Dinner -

Saturday
Plans - Waiting to hear back from friends on dinner plans.
Breakfast and Lunch - oatmeal, berries, salad
Dinner -

Sunday
Plans - Grillfest at the Depot - we are attending and not volunteering this year, really looking forward to it
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - we will be getting plenty to eat at Grillfest!

For more meal plans and links to recipes, check out the orgjunkie.  

On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 2

Oh we had a quiet weekend around here. It has been bitterly cold all weekend. We stayed in for most of it, but we did get out and run some errands and got those out of the way before it got really cold today. I think the high yesterday was -10 with a windchill of about -25 and today is supposed to be a lot worse. The governor closed all public schools in the state for today due to the scary temperatures. The boy and I are both working from home today.  We had friends for dinner Saturday and had some delicious wine with it. I found a new favorite that is absolutely delicious. I love finding those hidden gems. Dinner was beef stew over mashed potatoes and a spinach salad with pomegranates, gorgonzola, an spiced pecans.  The appetizer was delicious as well, and I got to use my new cast iron skillet that the boy bought me for Christmas. Fresh baked rolls with jalapeno artichoke dip baked into it, num!

We don't have a ton of plans this week, waiting to see if it is going to warm up some. We didn't make it out to the movies this past weekend, so maybe we will get a couple of movies in this week. We did catch up on some of our shows, Revenge and also were riveted last night with the season premier of Downton Abbey (as were all of our friends, neighbors and family members). We woke up to -24 temperatures with windchills of -45, so needless to say, we will be staying in and trying to stay warm!

Monday Plans - HOME! Too cold to think about going anywhere! I need to get the laundry done! Breakfast and Lunch - Fruit, yogurt, spinach salad Dinner - The boy is going to make a beef and vegetable soup, sounds good to me! Tuesday Plans - Probably still home until this deep freeze ends.  Breakfast and Lunch - Fruit, Cottage Cheese, leftovers Dinner - Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas (I have been craving Mexican lately) and black beans Wednesday Plans - No plans Breakfast and Lunch - Fruit, yogurt, salad Dinner - Out - Hazellewood Grill and Tap Room Thursday Plans - Movie night Breakfast and Lunch - Fruit cottage cheese, leftovers Dinner - One Pot Blackberry Glazed Salmon over Asparagus (this was SOOOOO good - recipe to follow Friday Plans - Out maybe, depends on weather of course, I am such a wimp! Breakfast and Lunch - fruit, yogurt, leftovers Dinner - Out maybe? We are meeting friends out at Three Crows. I can't wait to try this place, they have live music and a date night menu for two that comes with two salads, two entrees a shared dessert and a bottle of wine for $40.  Saturday Plans - Errands, I should have had my nails and toes done this past weekend, maybe lunch out - Mani and Pedi with sister J. Breakfast and Lunch -out with sister J for lunch  Dinner - Friends T & J and neighbors B & P for dinner. Putting together the menu at the moment, but I am thinking it is going to be an Italian theme of some sort since we are going back on the 17 day diet strict on Monday! I wound up making braised lamb shanks over polenta and a couple of awesome appetizers! Sunday Plans - I am hosting a Pampered Chef and Steeped Tea party - Brunch! Brunch - Mushroom and Feta Breakfast Casserole Dinner - I might need to update this towards the end of the week! We went looking for a new ottoman/coffee table, and decided to grab a last dinner out before we go back onto the 17 day diet Monday. We went to the new Sunshine Factory, very good, really enjoyed it.
For more meal plans and links to recipes, check out the orgjunkie. 

Tasty Tuesday - Recipe of the Week

A little over a week ago, we had friends for dinner. A while back we had been out with one of the couples for dinner and he had ordered this Italian Pot Roast that was to die for. I tried to repeat it, but was not successful. I am not a big fan of pot roast, but I really liked the one that he had. Everyone else really liked this a lot, but it just wasn't what I was going for. This was the recipe I used for inspiration from Cooks Country. Italian Pot Roast

• 1 Chuck Roast – 3 to 3 1/2 lbs boneless or 4+ lbs bone-in
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 pound mushrooms (white or cremini), quartered
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 14.5 ounces canned chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup red wine, divided
• large garlic head, outer papery skins removed, cut in half to expose the cloves (see photo )
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper

Makes 8 generous servings

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees F.  Pat the chuck roast dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper.

Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Brown roast on all sides, 8 to 12 minutes.  Transfer roast to large plate.

Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, celery, mushrooms, and tomato paste until vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes.

Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, water, 1/2 cup wine, garlic, and thyme. Return roast and accumulated juices to pot and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Place piece of foil over pot, cover with lid, and transfer pot to oven.  After an hour, flip the roast over and return to the oven.  Cook for a total of 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours.  My roast cooked the entire 3 1/2 hours.  Its done when the meat is “fork tender”.  It should almost fall apart as you put a fork in it.  The difference between undercooked and perfect is often as little as 30 minutes so, if you are in doubt, cook your meat a little longer.  When the meat is fully cooked, uncover the pot and let the roast rest in the juices for 30 minutes.

Fat will accumulate at the top (that’s the redish stuff in the lower right portion of the photo).  Skim off what you can.  Transfer roast to a carving board and tent with foil.

Remove and reserve the garlic head.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine to pot, bring to boil over medium-high heat, and cook until sauce begins to thicken, about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, carefully squeeze garlic from halves and mash into paste.  Add rosemary to pot and simmer until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Remove and discard rosemary and thyme sprigs, stir in mashed garlic, and season sauce with salt and pepper.

We served ours over mashed potatoes with steamed broccoli and started with my favorite fall salad! NUM!

Linking up over at Tasty Tuesdays - check it out for more great recipes!

Meal Plan Monday - Week 47

We had a great weekend, and got a ton accomplished! Friday our friends L & J came for dinner which was really nice, it had been a while since we had seen them. I made the salad which is now becoming my go to fall salad, which has mixed greens, Gorgonzola, spiced candied pecans, red onion, dried cranberries and a fig balsamic that I make for a nice dressing. I also made a mushroom risotto and grilled steaks.

Saturday I ran a couple of errands (getting lots of ideas for decorating for the holidays, I just read a blog post about someone who went through their 20 + bins and got rid of a ton, I am thinking about scaling back a lot this year and doing something different), found curtains that work for the sitting room and had lunch with the boy. Then we went to sister J's for a cocktail before dinner at a Japanese steak house. Unfortunately they do a lot of shrimp, lobster and crab, and there were just too many oils in the air and I had an allergic reaction to just being there, so we had to leave right after dinner. 

Sunday morning my dad came over to help the boy put in the light fixture in the sitting room. The last item is a new lamp and then we are done. I love the way it turned out, it has been fun to see peoples reactions to it. L when she got there Friday said she needed a minute to just take it all in but she really liked how cozy the room was and how we had pulled it all together. In the afternoon, I went to the opera with a neighbor friend. We saw Arabella by Strauss which was absolutely fantastic. I just loved it, the set, the costumes the story, the performers, it was all breathtaking! I love the opera though, I really should look at season tickets for next year. After we went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in St. Paul, Pazzaluna. It is what I would call Northern Italian cuisine, very good though. I had planned on sharing a salad with my neighbor and then ordering a fish of some sort, but on the walk over it was so cold, and all I could think about was the chicken parmesan, so I gave in, and it was absolutely delicious!

 

This morning I finally hit another big number for pounds loss which is really nice. This weekend I tried on a lot of my holiday skirts and dresses and I was surprised that pretty much everything fit (again) so now I just need to plan outfits out for every occasion and get organized.  Of course it is still nice to buy something fun here or there, but I am just excited to be fitting back into everything that used to fit! It is like getting a new wardrobe again!

This is a very busy week, but we have a lot of fun stuff planned!

Monday

Plans - Home, and I need to enjoy it, because there will not be a lot of these this week!

Breakfast and Lunch - Clementines, raspberries, yogurt, nuts, leftover chipotle

Dinner - I bought a couple of rotisserie chickens over the weekend to help with food prep this week and lunches. I am going to make chicken enchiladas at the boys request tonight.

Tuesday

Plans - Sister J's birthday! We are going out to celebrate with a big group at Oceanaire. So at least I know I will be having fish!

Breakfast and Lunch - Clementines, raspberries, grapes, yogurt, nuts, chicken

Dinner - Fish, out

Wednesday 

Plans - We need to go and pick up the boys suit. We got him a new suit, it just needed to be altered, but we need to pick it up and probably get a new shirt and tie before the wedding Friday. 

Breakfast and Lunch - Clementines, raspberries, grapes, yogurt, nuts, chicken

Dinner - we have a groupon expiring to The Butcher Block, so we will be heading there for dinner. 

 

Thursday

Plans - Home

Breakfast and Lunch - Clementines, raspberries, grapes, yogurt, nuts, chicken

Dinner - Chicken with lemony egg noodles and peas (one of the chickens we bought was a lemon pepper which should be perfect for this)

 

Friday

Plans - Wedding for M & M! in St. Paul

Breakfast and Lunch - will be very light!

Dinner - can't wait, our choices looked amazing!

 

Saturday

Plans - Football party for M & M for the Gopher vs Badger game.

Breakfast and Lunch - not sure what they are doing for food but it is being catered

Dinner - something low key at home most likely

 

Sunday

Plans - Home, I need to get the main table set for Thanksgiving, do the shopping and get organized. 

Breakfast and Lunch - probably out for lunch with the boy

Dinner - I have a turkey tenderloin I am going to make with roasted broccoli and a green salad

Tasty Tuesday! - Braised Short Ribs

Braised Short Ribs This is my go to recipe for company. I love making this recipe. I have made it 8 or 9 times now, and every time it turns out perfectly, the meat just falls off the bone and it is a big hit. Every time I have served this, I have done it over mashed potatoes, the gravy is just perfect with it.  I am going to apologize in advance, I am terrible about taking pictures as I go, but I will try to get better. I start out by salt and peppering, heavily, the short ribs. I always do bone in short ribs, I think it is the marrow that adds that extra flavor. I figure about 1 lb per person. Brown the ribs on each side in hot oil in a cast iron dutch oven. Remove from pan and rest on a plate.  Chop carrot, celery and onion and add to pan, saute. Add garlic. Saute until slightly soft and fragrant.

 Meanwhile, mix the liquids and whisk together. 

Add the short ribs back to the pan, layer a sprig of fresh thyme between each layer of ribs, pour liquids over the ribs, add extra wine if need be. You need to make sure that almost all of the ribs are submerged in the liquids. You do not want the ribs to dry out. I gave this recipe to a friend who made them for a big Christmas dinner for family and in laws. Well, she put them in the oven and didn't check them, but, she did not add enough liquids to begin with, so they were really dried out and terrible. BUT they did have some good chewy flavor, if you like that thing.  Cover and put into the oven on 300 for 2 1/2 to 4 hours depending on how many pounds of ribs you are cooking. I did read a recipe in Ali Larter's new cookbook Kitchen Revelry, where she talks about putting them in the fridge at this point overnight, and then taking them out the next day and separating the fat from the rest. It looks really interesting and I think I might try that the next time I make them. By the way, the cookbook is absolutely awesome, look for a review soon.  What I love about this recipe for company is that you can actually enjoy your company while it is cooking, if you have the mashed potatoes made ahead of time, whip up a vegetable, throw together a salad and you have a perfect menu for entertaining and no stress! I think that is why I have made it so many times for company, it just works out perfectly and I am not running all over and can sit and enjoy!

Recipe
Braised Short Ribs

2 to 8 lbs of short ribs, bone in - figure 1 lb per person

1 c. chopped carrots (I have experimented chopping small pieces and larger pieces, I prefer the larger pieces)

1 onion chopped

2 celery ribs chopped

2 to 4 cloves garlic

Olive oil

1 bottle red wine (this is purely up to each individual, I like to add a full bodied cabernet or a zinfandel for more flavor - if you do not want to add wine, you can add beef stock, but the wine really does give it the flavor). When mixing the liquids, use 1 c. wine, add more wine after the liquids and ribs have been added back to the pot. 

2/3 c. ketchup

3 T. soy sauce

2 T. Worcestershire

2 T. brown sugar

Thyme sprigs

Follow directions above. As far as the liquids go, I do bump up some of the measurements based on how many pounds of ribs I am cooking. I have used a few different recipes at different times and combined them and changed them up, but this is the one I have been using for a while now. Enjoy!

For more fun recipes, check out Tasty Tuesdays over at Nap-timecreations and Anyonita Nibbles!

On the Menu Monday (MPM) - Week 46

We had a wonderful weekend. Starting Friday, we met friends T & J out for dinner at a place I never would have thought to check out, a relic in downtown Minneapolis, Normandy Kitchen, but do not overlook the relics. Our food was fabulous, the service was wonderful and the ambiance is just so unique. They make popovers to order, do not pass those up. It was a great way to wind down the week!

Saturday was more than wonderful. Sister J and I had a wonderful spa day. We started with spa pedicures while enjoying salads that I picked up for us. They were wonderful salads too. We had our nails done and then a fabulous 60 minute relaxation massage, oh how would love at least one of those a week, maybe every other week? We wrapped up our visit with some champagne and having our hair done. We spent the day at Future Concepts Studio and Spa. I could not recommend it enough. The staff is wonderful, the space is so relaxing and the whole day just flowed perfectly.

We wrapped the day up with dinner out at Firelake Grill. It was delicious! And of course we ran into our friends T & J that we had just seen on Friday night. They wound up joining us for a while which was fun!

Sunday we ran to the store for some dinner necessities and then a quick lunch at Bar Louie. They were honoring veterans a day early so the boy had a free lunch which was really nice. Their sandwiches are huge though, we easily could have shared one!

Dinner with our parents turned out really good. I made the autumn mixed green salad with pears, dried cranberries. gorganzola. spiced pecans and a wonderful fig balsamic. I grilled steaks which I actually got cooked right the first time and to everyone's liking. We did roasted potatoes and delicata squash and then I tried to replicate the sea salt caramel pretzel bread pudding that we had at Eat Street Social. While it was not as good as theirs, it was a big hit.

This week we don't have a lot of plans, which is nice, we have a lot we need to catch up on at home.

Monday
Plans - Out to dinner for Veterans day, car serviced, errands.
Breakfast and Lunch - fruit and cottage cheese
Dinner - Out, boys choice for Veterans day

Tuesday
Plans - Bunco, I need to bring an appetizer, I think I am going to make Pepperoni Pizza Dip, using turkey pepperoni.
Breakfast and Lunch - Yogurt, fruit, nuts
Dinner - Leftovers

Wednesday
Plans - Home
Breakfast and Lunch - Cottage cheese, fruit, nuts
Dinner - Catfish and zucchini Went to sister J's for dinner, she made a wonderful beet and goat cheese salad and chicken stuffed with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes

Thursday
Plans - Home
Breakfast and Lunch - Yogurt, fruit, nuts
Dinner - I am making an spinach and egg dish from a cook book I recently purchased which I will share later this week. This didn't happen, but I made this wonderful Pancetta and Leek Pasta recipe

Friday
Plans - Probably out somewhere, not sure yet Friends for dinner
Breakfast and Lunch - Yogurt, fruit, nuts
Dinner - out

Saturday
Plans - the boy is working Saturdays now which is kind of a bummer. We have been busy getting the garage cleaned out, that has been quite the under taking, but we have been getting rid of a lot too.
Breakfast and Lunch - Not sure yet!
Dinner - Out, sister J has a good friend in town from Nebraska for some more birthday celebrating.

Sunday
Plans - I am going to the opera in the afternoon with a friend and neighbor. Not sure if we are going out for lunch or dinner yet. The meal plan is a just in case.
Dinner - Creamy Greek Yogurt Mac & Cheese, grilled pork loin

For more meal plans, check out the orgjunkie!