Week 82 Menu

Monday - Sweet & Sour Meatballs & Hawaiian Bread
Tuesday - salmon in parchment (something like this)
Wednesday - pizza
Thursday - Pesto Chicken Florentine
Friday - eat out
Saturday - French Toast (w/ buttermilk syrup) & scrambled eggs
Sunday - Hungarian Chicken over rice

Week 81 Menu

Monday - Southwest Vegetable Soup & cornbread
Tuesday - Easy Baked Manicotti & corn
Wednesday - Cornbread Chicken & Herb Green Beans
Thursday - Cilantro Lime Chicken Wraps
Friday - eat out
Saturday - Pasta Primavera
Sunday - Ginger Pork Pot Stickers & Egg Drop Soup

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

One year ago I searched out and printed two different Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipes. I stuck them in my "to test" binder and there they have sat. I considered them a few times for a meal in the past year, but they never made the cut. What a shame! I merged the two recipes together for dinner tonight and the result was amazing. It was the perfect soup for tonight's meal - we've had snow all day and just before dinnertime we were outside shoveling and building a snow fort. How wonderful to come inside to a warm pot of soup and fresh rolls. I'm afraid I have no photos - my camera is MIA. Has anyone seen a camera lying around somewhere?


**update** I found my camera! Well, actually some friends of ours found our camera in their driveway, under 8 inches of snow. It still works though, and here's proof:




Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
serves 6-8

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrots
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cooked & shredded
1 (4.3 oz) box Rice-a-Roni Long Grain & Wild Rice (original flavor)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup milk

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery and carrots and saute for 7-8 minutes. Add chicken broth, water and shredded chicken. Bring to a boil and add rice (save seasoning packet!). Cover pot and remove from heat.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the seasoning packet and stir to combine. Slowly add the flour (in 1/4 cup increments) to form a roux and continue to stir. Add salt and pepper. Whisk in heavy cream and milk, a little at a time, until fully incorporated. Cook and continue to stir until thickened - about 5 minutes.

Return broth/rice mixture to the heat and add cream mixture. Cook over medium heat until rice is softened and soup is thickened and heated through, about 10-15 minutes.

Week 80 Menu

Monday - dinner with family
Tuesday - Chicken & Wild Rice soup, Rustic Pan Bread
Wednesday - either turkey or roasted pork tenderloin...hm....
Thursday - french toast & broiled grapefruit (brunch)
Friday - Baked Chicken Breasts (new crockpot recipe)
Saturday - spaghetti & meatballs
Sunday - Robyn's Meatloaf, roasted red potatoes


This week's treat: Lemon Drop Cookies

Lava Cakes

I had a request for my Lava Cakes recipe. They sounded so good I made a batch for dessert today. Here's the link:

Lava Cakes

This time instead of topping it with vanilla ice cream, I have some of my all-time favorite... pink peppermint.

Here's another link to a great Christmastime dessert:

Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Cake

Week 79 Menu

(Friday - Robyn's Meatloaf, baked potato wedges & sauteed asparagus)
(Saturday - eat out .... Christmas Party)
(Sunday - Oven Baked Salmon w/ Pesto, Three Cheese Bread)

Monday - Chicken Fajita Quesadillas
Tuesday - Fettuccine Alfredo & Rustic Pan Bread
Wednesday - Chicken Enchilada soup
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - eat out (Christmas Party)
Saturday - spaghetti & garlic bread
Sunday - family dinner (I'm bringing salad & dessert)


This week's treat: Cranberry Muffins

Rustic Pan Bread

Rustic is such a fabulously useful word. Have dents and scratches in your furniture? Oh - it's now rustic furniture. Is the landscaping around your house lacking the finesse of the neighbor's? No worries -it's a rustic landscape. Do you have a crappy old pan and only about an hour* to throw something together for dinner? Make Rustic Pan Bread!

I shared this recipe last year, but I feel like it's been buried. I'm re-posting it under a new name - although the "rustic" applies more to the state of the pan I use than the actual bread. Hopefully with the "rustic" title it will be less intimidating for some of you as well. I've found that this bread is kind of hard to mess up. I love that kneading is not required and you can top this bread with all sorts of things. One of my favorites is melted butter and dried rosemary.



Rustic Pan Bread
(mom - is this originally your recipe?)

2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 Tablespoon yeast
4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
melted butter

In a bowl dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let sit for a few minutes. Stir in flour and salt. Dough will still be quite sticky (see photo).



Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise* until double in size.



Grease a small cookie sheet/jelly roll pan. Spread dough flat onto sheet with palm of hand.



Spread melted butter on top. You can also add Garlic Parmesan Blend, sesame seeds, dried rosemary, or just butter! (hm. Looks like I went a little heavy on the butter this time)


Let dough rise again*. Bake 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cut into squares to serve.



*note: Rising times will depend on the temperature of your kitchen. The last time I made this bread it rose really quickly and it was done and ready to eat in about an hour.