Recipes and Ruminations

This week I've decided to prepare a weekly dinner menu plan. I don't know why I've been avoiding this very necessary part of homemaking.....but I have. When I was a little girl, life seemed so simple. My sister and I would walk to the grocery store with my mom once a week. She'd have about 20 or 30 dollars to spend on groceries for the family. To my embarrassment she'd always have to give some of the groceries back to the cashier because she did not have enough money on her. I was ashamed of being "poor" and also secretly prayed that she would not put back the cookies. Anyway, all the this reminiscing is just to say that my dear mother did a menu plan...sort of. As we walked around the store she'd say. "Let me see....Monday....pork chops, Tuesday..... spaghetti, Wednesday.....chicken, Thursday..... meatloaf and Friday...... franks and beans". She would pick out something special for Sunday dinner too. It was just so simple. We never ate out and rarely used prepared items. It seemed she always had a hot meal on the table and it was delicious. It was never gourmet for sure but we all liked it. These days we have more variety, big stores like Costco and Sam's club as well as wonderful Farmers Markets to choose from. We have more modern conveniences and yet we struggle with knowing what to prepare for our families. What's wrong with us? Perhaps I am trying to make it more complicated than it is. Anyway, I decided to share with you my plan for the week if you are interested. Whatever I prepare I usually add an extra vegetable side dish or a salad to accompany the main dish. Most of these dishes are on the website. I hope you'll check them out and then let me know what you think. Happy cooking everyone!! Brenda

Monday........Lemonaide chicken and rice
Tuesday........Vegetable Lazagna (prepare 2 and freeze one)
Wednesday...Hashbrown dinner (crockpot)
Thursday.......Broccoli Chicken/ Rice/Steamed broccoli
Friday...........Corned Beef in Beer(Crock Pot )
Saturday........Soup and Sandwiches
Sunday...........Danish meatballs, red potatoes and green beans

Cooking with crab doesn't get much simpler than this! This crab rangoon is easy, it's quick, and it's perfect for a lunch with some special friends....

Side dishes usually don't get a second thought. But these Rosemary Buttered Noodles are a quick and easy side for any weeknight dinner. Curly egg noodles are best here, but you could also use pasta. Penne, gemelli, and rotini are good choices....

Taco salad in a stale tortilla shell has needed a facelift for quite some time. This fajita salad has the good things of its predecessor (like corn chips!), but steps out of the box with its sweet-spicy dressing and slices of seared flank steak. ...

Talk about yin and yang balance. This daikon-mango salad juggles it all — crunchy and soft, sweet and sour, mild and spicy....

Couscous is easy to prepare but doesn't have much flavor. In this recipe, the light flavor of the couscous picks up the flavor of the fruit and vegetables. To make the flavor even more intense, caramelize the fruit in butter before adding....