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Monday, January 30, 2012

Menu Plan: January 29 - February 4

We're getting ourselves ready for the summer garden. It's our coping mechanism for the freakishly cold weather here. We can get our onion seeds started and I think celery seeds, so that's what we're doing. We're also getting ready to order replacement and new seeds for this year and trying to get moving toward working on the soil.

This week's meals are fairly simple. Our school week is light, but the rest of our schedule is pretty full. Aside from our normal activities, Rich's brother is in the area for work, so we're trying to see him as much as we can. The true end of the Christmas season is approaching, too. The Feast of the Presentation is Thursday, which marks the end of Christmas.What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

2011 Wrap Up

I meant to do this at the beginning of the month, but life has gotten away from me. So here are the books and objects I finished in the year 2011. I have already finished a few things in 2012 and will post those soon.

Books Read in 2011
(including read aloud chapter books, but not picture books or story books)

2011 Finished Objects

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Weekly Recipes: January 28

King Ranch Turkey

I use turkey for the most part, since we have lots of turkey and roast turkeys for our family dinners. Any recipe that uses turkey can use chicken and vice versa. Use what you have.

6 tablespoons butter (or turkey fat)
1/3 cup flour
1 small onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 cups turkey stock
2 cups cream (or milk)
2 cups sour cream
salt (to taste)
24 corn tortillas
3 cups chopped, cooked turkey meat
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
2 cups diced tomatoes (canned is fine)
1/2 cup diced roasted, peeled green chile (jalapeno, ancho, anaheim - whatever suits your fancy - even canned)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add onions and garlic and cook over medium low heat until onions are translucent. Sprinkle flour over and cook, stirring, for a minute or two. Add oregano and ancho chile powder and whisk in to mix. Slowly add stock, whisking to distribute the roux, then slowly add cream and cook over medium heat, stirring, until thickened. Whisk in sour cream. Season with salt, to taste.

Ladle one or two scoops of the sauce in the bottom of a 16 by 11 inch baking pan. Layer eight of the tortillas in the bottom of the pan, overlapping slightly. Cover with half the turkey, tomatoes and chiles. Sprinkle with one third of the cheese. Ladle enough of the remaining sauce to cover the layer evenly, but not thickly. Repeat with another layer of the tortillas, turkey, tomatoes, chiles, cheese and sauce. Top with the last eight tortillas, the remaining sauce and cover with cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbly.


Pastitsio

This is a layered pasta and meat dish from Greece. We in the Middle East have our own version of this dish as well, Macarona bi Bechamel.

For the pasta:
2 pounds penne pasta (or other tubular pasta)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup rich milk
4 eggs, beaten

Meat sauce:
2 pounds ground beef or lamb
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups diced tomatoes (canned is fine)
1 cup tomato paste

Bechamel:
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until tender but not soft.
Drain and put back in the pot. Add butter and cheese, then toss. Mix the milk and beaten eggs, add to pasta and toss well.

Cook the meat in a skillet with onion, garlic and spices until browned. Add
tomatoes and tomato paste and stir well. Season with salt.

Layer 2/3 of pasta in a 16 by 11 inch baking dish (or two smaller dishes), spread the meat sauce over the top and cover with remaining pasta.

Melt butter, add flour and cook for a minute. Add the milk slowly,
whisking to prevent lumps. Remove from heat, let cool slightly.
Add eggs one at a time, whisking rapidly so you don't get scrambled
eggs. Stir in the cheese and salt.

Pour the bechamel over the pasta. Bake about 35 minutes.
Let stand 15-20 minutes, cut into squares to serve.

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Menu Plan: January 22 - January 28

The snow has kept us at home a lot this past week. Most of our activities after Tuesday were cancelled, so it turns out that this week is our first week with all activities back on board.

We had a different dinner on Saturday, because our schedule changed unexpectedly. So, we have a repeated meal this week.What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Menu Plan: January 15 - January 21

This is our first week with every single activity back up and running. I am trying to keep things relatively simple this week, while we get back into our schedule.

Our goals of getting projects done little by little and organizing our home and life more are going well. We're not getting everything done nor working at an extreme pace, but progress is being made. School also went relatively well for our first week back and we are excited about our co-op starting. I'm a little frantic trying to get my materials ready for the classes I'm teaching, but I am looking forward to teaching the students again.

Our other big project is getting ready for the garden. The plan is to begin sorting through seeds and ordering and starting things like onion seeds and some herbs and flowers this month. We are determined to have a better garden than we did last year.What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Sunday, January 08, 2012

Menu Plan: January 8 - January 14

Christ is illumined! Let us shine forth with Him!

It is the octave of Epiphany and we are heading back into our school term. I'm fairly proud of how much we've accomplished in this first week of the year and hope we can keep plugging away. So, we're back into our regular schedule, with school, meals, extra-curricular activities and such. In a couple weeks I will, yet again, be teaching two classes at our homeschool co-op. One of them is fairly straightforward with some set assignments and materials and the other is, essentially, a knitting clinic. It's fun teaching these, but the preparations are sometimes tough.What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Sunday, January 01, 2012

Menu Plan: January 1 - January 7


Christ is born! Glorify Him! We are in the eighth through the 12th day of Christmas this week and will be wrapping up with Epiphany. We are still feasting and celebrating.

Since we had so much food leftover from meals, some of our dinners are being repeated this week. Our anniversary was quiet and nice. We visited with our neighbors, delivered gifts and had a gorgeous dinner together. We changed it a little based on what we had at home. We had our crab linguine with the lemon cream sauce as planned, but served sauteed shredded brussels sprouts with them instead of the green beans. We also served cherry ice cream and chocolate wafer cookies, since we still had so much dessert left and didn't want to make more. We had a nice night together, kissed at midnight and went to bed.

So, since this is another week of feasting, we will see if we can get through all the meals as planned or if we end up moving some to next week.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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