Satisfied Satruday--Haven't Used All Recipes Site In a While (11/20-11/26)

First of all, last week's recipes were absolutely amazing!  And I mean that!

For this week, I really want to keep things simple and healthy.  I am not in charge of Thanksgiving meals this Thursday, and possibly for the first time, I am not making anything.  That might sound terrible, but everything I want to make is not what people want to eat.  I like Sweet Potato Casserole and Sausage Stuffing, but since that is not traditional, I don't see the point in making it.  And I am the only one who would like a Pumpkin Cheesecake, so I think I'll let everyone take care of the traditional meals.

So to this week:

Meal 1: 

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue
Hamburger Buns

Greek Pasta Salad

Meal 2:

Honey-Soy Pork Chops from the Bradshaw Family
Veggies

Meal 3:

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Recipe
Scalloped Potatoes (from a box)

Meal 4:
Black Bean/Veggie Burgers

Thai Addicting Salad

Sounds good to me--hope it does to you, too.  And healthy!!

As an update--Allrecipes.com even lets you create a shopping list and edit it.  Awesome!  I just printed out my shopping list!  I think I may have to use them more often.  I used to all the time.  

No Satisfied Saturday This Week

And here is why.  I will only be home for dinner on Monday and Wednesday.  My daughter has swimming on Tuesday and Thursday this week.  We have to do a McDonald's run on those days.  I will be leaving Friday and be gone until early evening Saturday to the Women of Faith conference in Seattle!  I blogged about that some time ago, and I will tell you all about it when I get back.  So we are having quick meals this week.  I will be back on track the following week.

I will tell you that my friend (if I can still call him that), Martin, will be coming back from England on the third of November.  Trouble will begin then, but I have made the decision that with the help of God, I will not let him control me or tell me what to make and cook.  I am going to continue our healthy eating in spite of what he says.
You may see a couple changes in recipes when he is here, but I am still in charge of the meals!

Satisfied Saturday--September 18-24--Mom Helps Out

Last week's recipes were really good, and I mean really good!  For the turkey cranberry sandwiches, I used canned chicken (thought we had canned turkey, but I was wrong), and these were absolutely out of this world!  I love croissants anyway, but this was really great!  We love the Italian sausage and vegetable stew.  We actually still have some left.  Very easy to fix and tastes great!  We just had the chicken waffle pops, and they really were nice for a change.  I wasn't too sure about everything, but it was fun for something a little different.

There are two recipes that will carry over from last week--crock pot pork and apples and fruit salad.  My brother and sister-in-law should be out this week, so I'm going to wait on those.

This week, my mom chose some recipes, so I am going to pick my other 3 recipes from what she gave me.

Slow-Cooker Potato and Double-Chowder 

Slow Cooker Caramelized-Onion Pot Roast

Slow Cooker Lasagna

I happened to be looking for some desserts, and I found this link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2125977/5_fall_dessert_recipes.html?cat=22

Not sure which dessert I will make--probably the first one.  

Satisfied Saturday--Kitchen Aid Recipe Collection (August 28-September 3)

A couple weeks ago, I won this book from Book R Us.  I really have enjoyed going through this book, and I decided to plan my meals from this cookbook this week.  However, before I do this, let me review last week's meals.

• The Turkey Ceasar Sandwich was fantastic!  Next time, we are going to use garlic bread that has no butter on it.  My mom and I ate it open-faced, and my dad had it with two pieces of bread.  I added bacon jam to the spread.  We had no mashed potatoes because we didn't feel like it.
• The Cannelini Tuna Salad was also out of this world!  I added bacon jam (it's now all gone!) and feta cheese, and it was fantastic.  I used a jalapeno Greek yogurt dip as my dressing, and it was just out of this world.  Others had whatever dressing they wanted.  I also served garlic bread--butter for my parents, none for my daughter or me.
• The chicken penne bake was awesome!  I couldn't believe how great it was!  
• Oh, and the tuna cobb salad did turn out well from the other week!

Now on to this week (no I did not make the dessert yet).  I will give the page numbers and names of recipes.

Meal 1: Steak and Black Bean Chili (p. 78)

             Bread

Meal 2:  Fresh Spinach Couscous Salad (p. 112)

Meal 3:  Thai Fried Rice (p. 132)--add chicken

Meal 4:  (not in the cookbook)  Chicken and Wild Rice mix from Costco

Dessert:  Key Lime Pie (p. 160)

By the way, save some money on your next KitchenAid or accessories purchases by using KitchenAid coupons.

Satisfied Saturday (August 21-27, 2011) with a little help from Tidy Mom!

First of all, I was basically pleased with last week's recipes.  I still have one to make--the tuna cobb salad.  I will probably make that tomorrow or Monday.  So I will just plan 3-4 recipes this week. 

Meals 1 and 3 from last week were outstanding!  I loved making biscuits into little flattened biscuits.  My only recommendation with that is to roll them out at thinly as you can, and do not use oil.  I did not even use cooking spray.  They were perfect when I made them thin.  And I used the leftovers of these with Meal 3.  I did not make meal 3 in the oven.  I just cooked the eggs and bacon, and I put that with the cheese on the flattened biscuit.  I then took hashbrowns and added all the veggies I had lying around to them.  They were really good!

This week, I decided to try something a little different.  I downloaded the tidy mom toolbar this week, and I love it!  I told her that I would try to plan my meals using that toolbar (it has a recipe section), and so I am.  Here goes.

Meal 1:

Turkey Ceasar Sandwich and some kind of mashed potatoes

She used Bob Evans mashed potatoes, but we have some other mashed potatoes we have on hand.  I will also add some other veggies.

Meal 2:

Cannellini Tuna Salad

I will probably add some toast or biscuits to this.

Meal 3:

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Bake

Dessert:

Apple 'N Peanut Butter Bread Pudding

Well, I look forward to trying this out!  Thank you, Tidy Mom!

Sporadic Saturday: A Defining Moment in My Life

Anyone who knows me--really knows me--knows the importance of this musical in my life.  It was the first (and only) musical I ever saw on Broadway: The Phantom of the Opera.  It was a very special time in my life, Trust me, I could tell you the long story, but I'll shorten it the best I can.

When I was a junior in high school (and even earlier), I made the decision to do everything I could to be in our high school's show choir.  Originally, I wanted to join because I had an immense crush on one of the main guys  in the group.  I took singing lessons, and, more importantly, I took dance lessons.  I had to learn rhythm.  I did not grow up in a "dancing" family.  I worked very hard, and I made it in!  I was so excited, and I learned that we would be going to New York.  I learned also that we would be seeing The Phantom of the Opera while there.  Up to this point,  my only exposure with the musical had been a couple songs we had tried to sing in choir. I remember wondering if I would like it, but I didn't worry too much.  After all, it was Broadway!

I will never forget the night we went to see Phantom.  We were more dressed up than most of the people, and there were actually kids who slept through the musical!  Yes, I know we didn't have much sleep, but how could you sleep through this musical?  It was phenomenal.

But the main part of my story starts right before we saw the musical.  I was stuck "palling" around with my show choir partner (I could write 50 more posts about him at least!) who was so very annoying.  We happened to be in a shop on Broadway that had memorabilia from the current musicals.  My show choir partner showed me the cassette he just purchased--the highlights from Phantom.  (Yes, cassette tapes--that should date me.  It was 1992). The thought occurred to me that I should get the entire soundtrack from the musical.  And so I did.  My partner was so impressed that he exchanged his tape for the same thing I got.  

As I read the back of the tape, a name jumped out at me''Michael Crawford."

I was a student of old musicals, and I knew Michael Crawford from:

How could he now  be this?

From the moment I heard  him sing, I became enamored with Michael Crawford.  I planned to become a musical star in New York.  I wrote a very long series of plays based on Michael Crawford.  I saw him live in concert.  I joined his fan club.  I met Martin.

I'm sure you see the progression.  It is a night I shall never forget as long as I live.  And now you probably won't either!

Satisfied Saturday--Like I Promised!

As I promised last week, I planned  my meals for this week from the current Taste of Home magazine.  Last week's meals were good except I could not make the chicken meal since no store around had eggplant in stock! Oh well.  Here are this week's meals:

Meal 1: 

 Peppered Pork Pitas

Update--I made these last night.  I used tortillas and used a Greek yogurt sauce as a condiment.  Very tasty!

Meal 2:

Rich & Creamy Tortellini

Meal 3:

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Steaks

I will be using goat cheese instead of blue cheese--our store had no blue cheese!

Meal 4: 

Mimi's Lentil Medley

Meal 5:

Saucy Thai Beef Noodles

Satisfied Saturday--Meals This Week and a Review

For almost as long as I have been on the internet, I have loved the Taste of Home website. The recipes were always fabulous, and I knew that any recipe I chose (practically) would be fantastic!  But even I noticed that since I was not a subscriber, I did not have full access to all the recipes on their site.  I had wanted to subscribe to their magazine for quite some  time, but I was  not sure I could afford it.  And I wasn't even sure it would be a  worthwhile investment.

I am very happy to say that I finally took the plunge, and I am now a subscriber.  And I somehow believe I will be a subscriber for life!  The first magazine came (June/July 2011 issue), and it was absolutely page after page of great recipes.  Everyone passed the magazine around, and all  the ladies in the family were impressed.  I think what I loved most was that everything in the magazine is attainable by the normal American adult with very basic culinary skills.  I also appreciate the variety of foods.  I am one who often does not cook the same thing twice.  I don't know why I don't repeat recipes very often, but it's just the way it works for me.  

I made the decision last weekend that I was going to make all my recipes for the week--at least the dinners--from this magazine.  I will tell you right now that I think I could easily plan all month from this magazine and not get tired.  And for those of you who follow my meal plans on this blog, you may realize that every week I change the recipe book or website I am using to plan out meals.  But I plan on using this same magazine next week to plan out my meals.  

On to this week:

(I will be posting applicable links to the recipes, but if you are not a subscriber, you may not be able to access them.)

Meal 1:  Ham It Up Primavera

(I plan to use bacon in the place of ham since we have it on hand.  I will also be adding sugar snap peas.)

Meal 2:  Classic Cashew Beef

We may be using pork if we find that we don't have beef.

Meal 3: Bravo Italian Chicken

Meal 4: Fresh as Summer Salad

I am using macademia nuts instead of pistachios.

I will also be making two recipes using the coconut flour Tropical Traditions sent me for review.  I will be making a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese frosting and a pineapple upside down cake.  I should be posting that review by next weekend.  I will post the recipes I used when I do the review.

By the way, I was not financially compensated for reviewing Taste of Home and their magazine.  All opinions are 100 percent mine.

Sporadic Saturday--Some Interesting Facts About Me

Well, I realize that I am just about at 500 followers!  I am totally humbled and amazed!  I want to thank each of you for supporting my blog for various reasons.  I have not been blogging steadily for a year yet, and this many people actually want to read what I have written.  And enter my giveaways--I know.

Since so many of you are new to the blog, I thought that giving you some interesting facts about me might be a good idea.  And to my long-time followers, there might be some information you didn't know about me.  Keep reading--you might learn something.

1.  I was  born in Tacoma, Washington.  I lived in Long Beach, Washington while my parents were divorced for a couple years.  Then when my parents got remarried, I moved back to Tacoma, Washington.  I went to college in Lakeland, Florida.  I met my future husband there, and he was from Bloomington, Illinois.  We spent our first summer there then moved back to Lakeland, Florida.  In summer of 1998 (if I remember right), we moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Four years later,  we moved to Duncanville, Texas.  Then Dallas, Texas.  Then we divorced.  My daughter and I moved back to Washington state--Yelm, Washington--two years ago and live with my Mom and Dad.

2.  I was married for about 10 years.  I won't go into great details.  We dated 6 weeks, got engaged, were engaged for 13 months, then we had the wedding of my dreams.  Several years into the marriage, I realized that he had some control issues. He was 10 years older than I, and I was finally growing up (I was only 19 when I married).  After the birth of our daughter, I realized he was mentally ill.  It became dangerous for me to remain in the marriage--I got out before anything happened to my daughter or me.  It was a 10-month divorce--pretty nasty at times.  It was hard due to my strong faith in God, but God and I worked through it.  My ex-husband is completely out of our lives.

3.  I have been a Christian most of my life.  I grew up in the church, and God and I have grown much closer as the years have gone on.  I have been a Sunday School teacher, a choir member, a choir director, a VBS worker, and much more.  I went to Bible college, and I love studying the Word of God.  I live my life by His Word.

4.  I am a classically trained soprano who at one time thought she would be on the Broadway stage starring as Christine Daee in the Phantom of the Opera opposite Michael Crawford.  I have sung all sorts of music, but as most people will tell you--songs that are more classical in nature seem to suit my voice better.  Yes, I have sung opera.  I have sung folk songs.  I have sung in four languages--actually 5--English, French, German,  Italian, and Spanish.

5.  I am an amateur author.  I have been writing since I was in the fourth grade.  I actually have written about 2-3 unpublished books and several plays.  I used to dream of being a published author, but I have to admit that I probably never will.  I have written the script for several church and school musicals--even an occasional song.  Blogging is a natural outgrowth of my love of writing.  And people, including teachers and professors, say that I am a good writer.

6.  I have an 8-year-old daughter named Martha who is more of a tomboy than anything.  I was the "girly girl" growing up who quietly played by herself.  Not so with my daughter.  She is active and bright and would rather play with "boy things."  No dolls for this girl!  She is type A personality definitely!

Okay, that should be enough to get things rolling.  I welcome any comments.

Satisfied Saturday--A New Crock Pot Cookbook Tonight

First of all, last week's recipes were life savers!  When one has such a busy schedule, I think "crockpotting" is the only way to go.  I have yet to make  the pork, but everything turned out quite well.  I even managed to make a crustless pumpkin pie.  This week will prove to be busy--my daughter's birthday party is Saturday, and our birthday is on Monday (did I ever mention she and I have the same birthday?)

This is a book I finally ordered because the waiting list was just too long at the library.  I love her books.  The great thing about this one is that she has organized the meals by how much it costs--$7, $10, and $15.  So here are the meals then.

Meal 1:  Leftovers for Breakfast  (p.20)

Toast

Meal 2:

Hoppin' John (p. 54)

Meal 3:

Cheese Enchilada Stack (p. 70)

rice/beans

Meal 4:  

Pizza Potatoes (p.51)

Salad

Dessert:

Lemon Pudding Cake (p. 98)

Satisfied Saturday--The Diet is Working

The good news is that I did lose around a pound this week.  So it is working.  Slowly, but surely.  I highly recommend all the recipes from last week.  They were easy and tasted good.  I still have the first chicken meal to make, but that will be made tomorrow night.

For this week, I am planning recipes from the current Family Circle magazine.  I am not sure if only members can access the recipes online, but I will link to them in case you can.

Meal 1: Chicken Veggie Noodle Bowl
Cucumber Radish Salad (both on p. 178)

Meal 2:  Chicken Broccoli Alfredo (p. 179)
French Bread
Veggies

Meal 3:  Turkey-Vegetable Fajitas
Avocado Tomato Salsa (both on p. 183)
Beans


Meal 4:  Fish Sticks
Berry Sweet (p. 170)
Fish Sauce (p. 170 also)
Roasted Baby Carrots

Dessert:

Chocolate Pretzel Clusters  (also called Fruity Chocolate Clusters p.11)

Hope you can access at least some of the recipes.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Satisfied Saturday--Officially Dieting

So far, the recipes from last week were amazing!  I have only made two of the recipes, so I will be carrying over the pasta and the fish recipe.  This is the week that I begin to really diet.  I actually hate to use that word, but I think everyone understands that it is definitely a change in lifestyle.  I have gained a few pounds, but I am not worried.  I have six months to get down to 135, and I should be able to maintain that.  I will make the decision then if I need to lose more weight after that.

Tonight, I will plan out 4 recipes.  I also am receiving a coupon for a free product, and I will be making that for Friday's meal probably.  But here goes.

I will be getting the recipes from:

Meal 1:  Turkey and Black Bean Sloppy Joes

veggies

Meal 2:  Cheeze-it Chicken Reduced Fat

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

green veggies

Meal 3:  Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese with Chicken and Veggies

salad

Meal 4: Slow Cookier V8 Chili Stew

Rye Bread

Satisfied Saturday--The Diet Begins!

Okay, I know I haven't shared, but I am in need of losing some more weight.  I lost a good 50 pounds several years ago, and I have mostly kept it off.  I have struggled to get the last 15 pounds off, and in the meantime, I up about 5-10 pounds.  My leg injury did not help this year.  So I have decided to go back on a diet once Martin leaves on Tuesday.  So this week's recipes will be kind of strange.  In fact, expect sketchy posts until after Tuesday.  I have already been shedding tears that I thought I wouldn't share.  I thought I was ready for him to leave.  But more about that later.

I plan to start the Beach Body Workout Plan here, but they do not have it all ready to go.  So I am just going to pick some light meals for this week to kind of get me back in the groove.

Tomorrow, I will be cooking some belly pork with some veggies--this is for Martin.  And then Monday and Tuesday, I will not plan out.  Martin leaves Tuesday, so I am sure we'll go out after taking him to the airport. Wednesday, Martha goes to swimming, so I have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  I will plan four meals just the same.

Meal 1:  Tomato-Basil Turkey Casserole

              green beans
              French bread

Meal 2:  Biscuit Chicken Gorditas

Spanish Rice/Beans

Meal 3:  Chicago Deep-Dish Sausage Pizza

Salad

Meal 4:  Cornflake Crusted Fish Fillets with Dilled Tartar

Rice

Veggies

That should do me.  Till later.

Satisfied Saturday--Almost Forgot to Post Tonight

I planned my meals out nice and early today, and I already have done the grocery shopping.  But I almost forgot to post!  Where has my mind been??

Last week's meals are nearly done.  I am carrying one over--Honey Curry Chicken.  I was pleased with Meals 1 and 2, but I thought Meal 3 was just so-so.  Good flavor, but we had old noodles.  I also did not make the dessert.  I made the dessert from a couple weeks ago:  Crockpot Dump Cake.  It doesn't get any easier than this, and it was good!  We didn't use blueberry pie filing since it cost over five dollars a can.  I found canned blackberries in syrup at Big Lots last week, and we thoroughly enjoyed the dessert.  We added cool whip to it.

This week's recipes all come from the following book:


Meal 1:  Lemon rosemary Chicken p. 11
potatoes, asparagus, broccoli

Meal 2:  Orange Beef Broccoli Stir Fry p. 57
Oriental Rice

Meal 3:  Monte Cristo Sandwiches p. 94
Salad

Meal 4:  Molasses and Mustard Glazed Ribs p. 108
veggies, corn


Okay, done!  Glad I remembered.  I don't know what I would call this post if I had to wait till Sunday!

Satisfied Saturday--Using My Springpad

I absolutely loved my recipes from last week yet again.  Still waiting to make the dessert--tomorrow night, I think.  But I am using cherry pie filling since I did not fancy paying over five dollars for blueberry pie filling.

Do you use springpad?  I began to use it when I started following blogs last year, and I love it--especially for saving recipes.  So tonight, I am using some recipes I saved from my springpad.

Meal 1:  Chicken Souvlaki Pie with Tsatziki
             Roasted Potatoes
Meal 2:  Killer Club Sandwich
             French Fries
            Broccoli Slaw

Meal 3:  Johnny Marzetti with Cheesy Noodles
             Green Beans
             Broccoli

Meal 4:  Honey Curry Chicken 
              Risotto
             Veggies


Dessert:  Caramel Toffee Cake

That should do it.

Satisfied Saturday--I'm Going All Out!

I absolutely loved the recipes I tried this week--especially the pork stew I made tonight.  I was very pleased, and I look forward to what I am trying this week.

Since I am on spring break, I thought I needed to try something a little different.  I love the Pioneer Women's Tasty Kitchen Blog.  I love her recipes, and this site has a lot of great recipes.  So the meals this week are from there.

"Super Evil" Bacon Meatballs

I will add some fries and/or veggies/salad to this.

Crock Pot Lasagna

I will add some bread and veggies to this.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Sausage and Bean Stew

I'm going to have this with it:

Pretzel Rounds

Ginger Orange and Curry Roasted Chicken

I will serve this with rice and veggies.  I also will not use ginger.

Perfect Pound Cake

Well, that should do it.  I think I'll be busy, but I will enjoy getting to cook!!!