Bread Baking!

The smell of baking bread will warm up the mood in any kitchen. In my scurry to make a quick and easy dinner (eggs, potato, onion, turkey bacon), I got caught up in bread baking. Top quality bread baking requires quite a bit of wait time, which might be frustrating but I find it soothing. While I wait on the bread to rise or proof or bake, I'm off working on some other task and feeling double-y productive.

Meal Plan Time!

Meal Planning on Sunday! I always check for items I didn't make last week and keep those on the list for this week.

Mini Meatloafs for Freezing

Today dinner featured mini meatloaf. I used a recipe from America's Test kitchen that involves browning the "meatloaf" and then baking it in the oven. The results were quite tasty. I tripled the recipe and reduced the serving size slightly. So with a bit more than 3 pounds of meat I will have a main dish for 5 more meals after tonight. As my husband said, "Thank goodness for carrots and ranch." They are my go to side dish. What's your go to side dish?

Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs in under 20 minutes!

Spaghetti squash makes for a great (semi) guilt free comfort food dinner. I make mine with a cream sauce which increases both the comfort and the calorie count. We eat this meal often enough that I have it down to 20 minutes from turning the stovetop on to food on the table. Hooray!

Crock Pot Success!!

Today, I made "Chicken Pot Pie" in the crock pot that I linked in my meal plan for this week. (In quotes, because it's just the filling part.) It turned out exceptionally well. I used a campbell's boxed sauce rather than that cream of chicken soup and I reduced the water down to a cup. The part worked best was adding the frozen veggies 30 minutes before serving. They turned out cooked but (for once) still full of flavor. Definitely, a trick to keep on hand for future use.

Meal Plan - March 21 - Green Smoothies and

Meal Planning for this week! The grocery bill was pretty large $125. Not my best week but I haven't been to the store in a few weeks because we've been eating out of the pantry and on trips. As a result, I had several staple items to stock up on.