Cooking Light Giveaway

Anyone want to win a year’s subscription to Cooking Light magazine?  

It’s my current favorite (see this post), and it’s one of my most trusted resources for new recipes.  I need to renew my subscription and when I went to the site I noticed that right now they’re having a 2-for-1 deal on subscriptions.  I thought I would give the other subscription away to one of my readers. 

To enter, simply leave a comment here on this post before Dec 23rd at noon.  I’ll choose a winner that afternoon.  (Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you!)




[nope, Cooking Light is not sponsoring this, nor are they paying me to go on and on about how much I love them.]

Menu No. 114

Menus two weeks in a row - this has got to be some kind of record for me, right?

You may notice that the Slow Cooker Ragu was also on my menu for Sunday last week.  Sunday morning came and I pulled out everything for the ragu and THEN realized that we had no egg noodles.  So I pushed that dinner to today and we had whole wheat waffles instead YUM!

I must say that I'm looking forward to having that ragu again.  We tried it a few weeks ago and we all loved it (kids included!)  Here's what we're having for the rest of the week:


Monday – Slow Cooker Ragu over egg noodles
Tuesday – Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables, Baguette
Wednesday – Vegetable Beef and Barley Soup, rolls
Thursday – Chicken and Black Bean burritos, salsa
Friday – eat out
Saturday – xmas party
Sunday – Robyn’s roast, rice, corn

Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Vegetables

Eye-Spy

[photo courtesy of Vintage Pollyanna]

Oh man this looks good!  I was doing some surfing for another hobby of mine and I came across this blog: Vintage Pollyanna

Allison has some really cute craft ideas, along with some yummy looking recipes.  This one for Chocolate Bark took me on a short trip down memory lane.  Back in college I went to visit a friend of mine at her apartment.  She offered me some chocolate bark and (of course) I didn’t refuse.  After eating it and telling her how much I loved it she informed me that there were saltine crackers in the recipe.  I really, really, really thought she was lying.  (side note:  I was quite a practical joker back in the day so it was not unheard of for people to try to trick me.  You know….  revenge.)  She gave me a copy of the recipe and sure enough – saltines. 

I was so happy to come across the recipe on Allison’s blog.  Along with the recipe she also has step-by-step photos for those of you who are more cautious bakers.
Enjoy!

Jingle Bell Cookie Pizza

I’ll save you the trouble….   it looks better than it tastes.



  I know, I know..  You could have told me that, right?  Store bought cookie dough, topped with marshmallows and m&ms.  Really it comes down to the fact that each of the ingredients are just plain better on their own.  Well, except the cookie dough.  It was extremely salty.  It’s been years since I’ve bought that stuff and now I remember why. 

If you still want it, here’s the link to the recipe.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Menu No. 113

Confession:  I’m not doing such a great job with posting my menus lately.  However, I have a new tool that will help me keep on top of things.  More on that later.  Now here’s what we’re feasting on this week:

Monday – Lime Chicken Soft Tacos (& homemade salsa)
Tuesday – Skillet Baked Ziti, french bread, roasted carrots
Wednesday – BBQ Chicken Salad (w/ a yummy BBQ Vinaigrette)
Thursday – BBQ Club Sandwiches, + leftovers
Friday – eat out
Saturday – eat out (Christmas par-tay!)
Sunday – Slow Cooker Ragu over egg noodles, green beans

This week’s treat:  Jingle Bell Cookie Pizza

Need more dinner ideas?  Check out Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie

Just Around the Corner

I can smell the turkey already, can’t you?  In my pre-Thanksgiving planning, today’s task is to decide on some cute place cards to add to the table.  I’m looking for something on the simple side, and hopefully something that my 9 year old could help with.  This morning I did a quick search for some Thanksgiving place card ideas and thought I would share my top five.   Do you have ideas?  Leave a comment with a link (or email me with your link) – I’d love to see!

 

A simple leaf.  Idea found here

Can’t go wrong with a lovely leaf.  Simple is good!

Paper pumpkin idea from Passionately Artistic

I like the paper strips idea and I love that there’s a chocolate surprise hidden inside.

Cute pilgrim hat idea from My Insanity

This cute hat caught my eye first this morning, but I’m not sure I’m in the mood to track down black party cups.

I love finding free printables – this one is from Design Evolution

I love the graphic print of the yellow.  I could tweak the color to more of a green, and then tie each leaf to a pear.  This is definitely an option if I get short on time.

and finally, this one is a whole Thanksgiving kit that you can download (free!) and customize.  I love the Thanksgiving activity page.  These cute downloadables are from Paper Glitter.

Today’s Find

On my once-a-month trip through Costco today I spotted this:



Several years ago when we lived in California, Panera was one of our favorite lunch spots.  Alas, Panera has yet to open a location here in Utah.  This Broccoli Cheddar Soup was one of Mr. Dinner’s on Me’s favorites.  He’d order the soup in a bread bowl and if I wanted a taste I had to get it quick before it disappeared.

Once we returned to Utah, I had to find a way to satisfy our craving for this soup.  After doing some research online, I found a clone recipe – a pretty close clone too.

I was so excited to find this soup today (and I hope Costco starts carrying some of Panera’s other soups.)  I tried it tonight for dinner with some slices of crusty bread.  Oh so perfect for a fall dinner.



Now just a note:  I will always prefer to make my own food from scratch rather than buying pre-made stuff like this.  However, there are nights (we all have them, right?) where if I want a hot meal then pre-made soup is a great option!  The package came with two tubs, we ate one and froze one for another busy night.