Weekly Menu

I never seem to make exactly everything on my menu but it does help to achieve some goals we are reaching for such as:  cleaning out the freezers, spending as little as possible on groceries while still eating healthy, and eating at restaurants only on special occasions thereby save us a little bit of money.
Recipe for the Apple Muffins will be posted later this week.  

MENU FOR JULY 4^TH THRU JULY 10^TH

Monday

 Breakfast:  Oatmeal, toast w/ homemade jam

 Lunch:  Toasted Tuna Sandwiches, Cut up Watermelon

 Dinner:  Sausage & Tortellini Soup, Homemade Rolls

Tuesday:**

 Breakfast:  Apple Muffins, yogurt w/ fruit

 Lunch:  Tuna on Rye Crisp, salad

 Dinner:  Left over soup and rolls

 Lunch:  PB & J sandwiches, chips

 Dinner:  Café Rio Cx Salad

Thursday:**

 Breakfast:  Apple muffins, yogurt w/ fruit

 Lunch:  Left overs from last night

 Dinner:  Chicken Penne Casserole  **this recipe makes one extra for the freezer for another time  ~ score!**

Friday

 Breakfast:  Apple muffins, protein smoothie

 Lunch:  PB & J sandwiches

 Dinner:    Refried Bean Enchiladas, veggie from freezer

Saturday:**

 Breakfast:  Oatmeal, fruit

 Lunch:   PB & J sandwiches

 Dinner:  Chef’s Salad

Sunday:

 Breakfast:  Cereal, milk, toast & jam

 Lunch:  Pancakes

 Dinner: 


**  This weekly menu has been posted to Laura's blog "I'm an Organized Junkie"  I'm sure by now most of the blog world is familiar to Laura's Monday Menu planning.  You must stop by and see all of the great different contributions.  ** 

New Pattern

Coming Soon To You

Knitting Pattern

Great for the Man in Your Life

Easy ~ Great for Beginners ~ One Skein

Turkey Recipe No. 3

Are you almost turkeyed out? Is turkeyed an actual work? I'm not sure but you get the drift.

This time of the year has given people the opportunity to feed our families for low to little money by purchasing a turkey. I don't remember what I purchased my turkey for last year but this year it was for 47cents a pound. Not too bad. But for a family of two, which is what Mr. S and I are, we can run the risk of turkey burn out.

So far I have shared with you two recipes: Turkey Tortilla Soup and the standard Turkey Noodle Soup. Did you get a chance to try either recipe? Well, if neither where something that you wanted to try here is something a little different today ~ I will be sharing how to make Turkey Enchiladas.

Turkey Enchiladas

Serves 2-3; however just double if you need to serve more

Ingredients

1.5 cups shredded turkey; this is great place to use the white meat but if you mix or only have dark meat that is okay too

½ small yellow onion

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1 small can green chilis

1 small can green enchilada sauce; only use the green doesn't taste good with the red enchilada sauce

½ tablespoon cumin

6 tortillas

Directions

Preheat oven to 350degrees

Warm up ½ tablespoon of oil in a frying pan add the onions and sauté. Just before they start to turn transparent add the shredded turkey and cumin. Mix together and sauté for about 2 minutes more.

Add ½ of the can of green chilis and ½ of the can of the green enchilada sauce. Mix together. Simmer on low for about 1-2 minutes stirring frequently.

Add a small handful of cheese mixing until melted. Remove from heat.

Place about 1/8 cup of mixture down the middle of the tortilla on top of that place about a big pinch of the cheese. Repeat this for each six tortillas.

Place in an 8x8 cake pan or whichever pan you wish to use.

Drizzle the rest of the sauce on top of the enchiladas and spread over all. Do the same with the rest of the green chilis. Top off with the rest of the cheese.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

Top with sour cream if you would like. Could you believe we were so hungry that I didnt take a picture of the finish product. But let me tell you Mr. S loved them, a whole bunch!

This goes great with Mexican rice, Mexican corn and/or a green salad.

If you try I really hope you like it and let me knowJ

I Heart Craigslist

Score! Don't you just love it when you find a awesome deal? Have you scored anything lately?

Well , I found these beautiful chairs on Craigslist. They are in such beautiful condition. No wears or tears, no smell, and just a couple of hairs that were easily vaccumed off.

I am hoping to cover them. I saw on flickr were someone covered their chairs then covered the seat cushion in a patchwork. It was so cute and cozy. I am not sure as of yet what I will do with these chairs but I will keep you posted.

Oh by the way the other great thing I love about these chairs they were $30.00 a piece~ Score!

No Ravelry Isnt Strange

Strange: unusual, extraordinary, estrange, alienated, different, or odd.

Ravelry: a website site for people who love to knit, crochet, spin yarn.

How the two wound up in an article in the Huffington Post is beyond my understanding. But that is exactly what has happened in this article by Catherine Smith posted back on November 10, 2010 The 19 Strangest Social Networks on the Web.

I am an understanding person and I am trying to understand how Ms. Smith was able to combine the two above definitions. Maybe she isn't into crafting especially of the yarn sort. And maybe Ms. Smith isn't into crafting at all. Maybe Ms. Smith hasn't visited the website nor has she interviewed the creators or attendees of the site to really know if this is a strange site. I am not sure what her qualifications where to categorize Ravelry as strange.

But let's try to be a little more giving and say okay, she thinks it's strange, fine, but to lump into a category along with other websites such as: Line for Heaven, Vampire Freaks, My Free Implants, or Lost Zombie, or even Café Mom makes it hard to understand and not dismiss this article as pure fluff nonsense.

Ms. Smith gets paid for this non-sense? Wow, I am sure there are thousands of people out there that would love to get paid for non-sense.

What is Ravelry? It is a great website. Developed by a very nice couple who had a love for yarn kind of stuff, it has expanded to over 1,000,000 users. It is a great place for people to develop their skill or to learn a skill in the yarn field. It is a place to find all sorts of wonderful and interesting patterns. It also has been a place where people have developed friendships.

What is so weird about that?

Me thinks that Ms. Smith and her boss need to get a little reprimand and counsel about research before printing an article.

Go and check out Ravelry ~ it's great fun!

If you stop by my username is Hugsandkisses, stop by and say hi!

Goodbye Quilt

I sold my first quilt at my shop ~ hugs and kisses.

It was an amazing feeling, an amazing combination of feelings. I was so excited as it made me feel like a big girl quilter girl. It was exciting that this little girl was going to get an amazing quilt for her to love and cuddle. Being Mom approved is a big bonus too. But it also made me sad.

That surprised me. Sad? I really liked this quilt. I almost didn't put it up for sale. I liked it that much. I don't know if it was the fabric, Moda Urban Chik Dream On, or the perfect backing match of a super duper soft flannel in a green plaid, but whatever the case it turned out perfect and that doesn't happen often.

Or sure some turn out nice or ho-hum but this was perfectJ It's at its new home being loved by it's new owner a sweet little girl. Do you ever get attached to something you have created?

Soon there will be having a new quilt listed at my store. It isn't as big as the last one but just as nice.

Here is a peek of the fabric used ~~~~ Moda's Make Life Simple

I also did a little something different on the back, at least for me. I like to think of it being two quilts in one.

Remember when I mentioned about all of my WIP's? Well I am starting to work on one. I call it the retro cowboys. This was started a few years ago. I can't believe I am admitting this but I can't even remember what or find the pattern being used. Just as bad I don't even remember the name of the material. It was bought at my LQS but there is no way I would ask them ~ too embarrassing! Once it is finished it will go to my sister. I think her boys will really enjoy.

For all of the yarn lovers out there here is what I am working on for my sister.

This yarn is incredibly soft and a great pleasure to work with. It was found at my local AC Moores on sale. I found the pattern while cruising around Ravelry. I just love that website. If you have never been over there you should really sign up. It has really helped my knitting/crocheting skills grow. I warn you it can be addicting.

Can't say goodbye yet without mentioning my store ~ hugs and kisses. Here is a great one of a kind minkee blanket ~ ready to ship! Perfect size for everything from stroller time to cuddle time. Mention "BlogOffer" and receive a 20% off at check out.

For full disclosure: Offer expires December 20, 2010 midnight EST

Have a great day!

Let There Be Soup

It looks like there are many recipes for Turkey Soup out there, I mean a real lot. And guess what? I am going to add one more.

I love soup and I will be posting plenty of soup recipes throughout the winter months. Poor Mr. S. gets soup all winter long, lunch and/or dinner. He doesn't complain because I think he is definitely coming over to my side, the soup side.

One thing I like about making soup after cooking a turkey is that you get a lot, so much that you get to freeze some for later. Turkeys are so awesome that way, plenty of bang for the buck.

In my experience - hee hee I can't help but think of a judge on the show The Good Wife who would demand the attorneys to say that phrase after each argument – okay back on tract.

In my experience to get a really good broth you want to cook the carcass slow for a few hours. Add in an onion chunked up, s&p, a in this case poultry seasoning.

Now let is simmer for a few hours and let the wonderful aroma fill your house….mmmm.

Next comes the part that isn't my favorite part at all ~ deboning the carcass. Everything is hot so I run the cold water gently while taking the meat off the bones. The cold water helps to cool my fingers. All the meat goes into a separate bowl, the bones thrown out, as well as the onion. Now all that is left in the pot is the broth.

I really like to strain this whereas some people don't. It is up to you strain or no strain. If you choose to strain then put the broth back into the pot when you are done.

Add to the broth in the pot: 1 onion chopped, 3 carrots sliced, 3 stalks of celery sliced, 1 cup of fresh beans or 1 can of canned beans, turkey meat that was pulled off.

Depending upon how much broth you got from earlier add water so that all the ingredients are covered by a good couple of inches. Now let all the ingredients marry. You will notice that I will say that when I write up my recipes.

Let this simmer for about twenty minutes while in another pot cook up some egg noodles. I have a reason for this. Cooking the noodles separate from the soup that is.

Noodles tend to get mushy before all the soup is finished.

So I keep them separate and serve it up like this. A scoop some noodles into a big bowl then a scoop of soup. I like mine with lots of broth whereas Mr. S likes lots of the meat and veggies.

Here is another reason why I do not like adding noodles to the soup. They don't freeze well, in my experience.

As I said I always freeze some soup in single and double servings for future times. It works great on the budget. I also love to give some away to special friends. It is good to shareJ

So that's how I roll with my Turkey Soup. I hope you enjoy!