Menu Plan Monday 69

Who has their turkey thawing in the refrigerator? My 15 pounder is! But I have a few days before Thanksgiving to plan for before we get to eat the turkey and trimmings. Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday--Sweet and Sour Meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes, creamed corn
Monday--Spaghetti with meat sauce
Tuesday--Chicken breasts, rice, veggie
Wednesday--Something quick and easy since hubby will be gone and I'll be getting Thanksgiving prep done
Thursday--Thanksgiving feast! Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, cherry Jell-o, pumpkin pie, apple pie a la mode
Friday--Leftovers of course
Saturday--TBD

Adventures in Breadmaking: Trial and Error and Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Our second week of bread making, Barry picked Sunflower Nut Bread and I picked a Simple Oat Bread recipe. After our first week, I realized we would need a few more things to enhance our bread making experience: another bread pan as I only had one and many recipes make two loaves, pastry brushes for brushing oil/butter/egg white on top of loaves of bread and bread flour.
Imagine my surprise when Barry came to tell me the brand new bread pan had exploded in the oven. That was a fun mess to clean up. At least it exploded away from the bread and there was not glass embedded in it.


We were a little disappointed with our results this time as both loaves were rather dense and heavy. They were still edible, but were not what we were hoping for. I suspect that since the yeast expired in May 2011, it just wasn't doing the job anymore, so I bought some fresh yeast next time I went grocery shopping.

I used the fresh yeast to make Cinnamon Raisin Bread, using a recipe from allrecipes.com.

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees to 115 degrees)
• 2 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups raisins
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• GLAZE:
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, 1/3 cup sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/4 hours. Punch dough down. On a lightly floured surface, divide in half. Roll each into a 15-in. x 7-in. rectangle.

Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over dough. Sprinkle with water. Starting with a short side, roll up tightly, jelly-roll style. Pinch seams and ends to seal. Place, seam side down, in two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over loaves.

Menu Plan Monday 68

Last week was busy with Trick or Treating, a choir concert/variety show, and a band concert all falling near eating time. Thank goodness for a menu plan! This week parent/teacher conferences fall right at mealtime, so I'll work around that with something easy to make that night. Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday--Leftovers
Monday--Steak, garlic mashed potatoes, salad
Tuesday--Chicken Stew
Wednesday--(P/T conferences) Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Thursday--Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, veggie
Friday--Pizza
Saturday--To be decided

Adventures in Breadmaking: Cranberry Walnut and French Baguettes

My husband and I have ongoing discussions about bread. He prefers the cheap white stuff while I like whole wheat. We both like the expensive artisan style bread with the crusty outside and chewy middle, but who wants to regularly spend $5 on a loaf of bread? So we decided to make Saturday our bread making day. Every week, we'll each pick a type of bread to try. Stir, knead, rise, bake, and then evaluate the end result.
For our first attempt, Barry picked Cranberry Walnut Bread. We adapted this No-Knead Artisan Style Bread from allrecipes.com by taking a reviewer's suggestion of adding dried cranberries and walnuts to the dough instead of the rosemary, thyme and sage.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt (I used only 1 tsp. as other reviewers suggested)
  
• 1 2/3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (optional)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage (optional)

1. Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Add the water and herbs, if using, and mix well. The dough will be very sticky and shaggy-looking. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours.
2. Generously flour a work surface. The dough will have risen and will be covered in bubbles. Transfer the dough to the work surface and dust it with flour. Fold the dough in half, and then form the dough into a ball by stretching and tucking the edges of the dough underneath the ball.
3. Liberally flour a kitchen towel (do not use terrycloth). Place the dough ball on the floured towel. Cover with another floured towel. Let the dough rise for about two hours [see footnote].
4. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place a lidded Dutch oven or deep heavy duty casserole dish (with lid) into the oven to preheat.
5. Carefully remove the hot baking dish from the oven. Remove the lid and gently turn the dough ball into the ungreased baking dish, seam-side up; shake the dish so the dough is more evenly distributed.
6. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until the crust is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the loaf from the baking dish and let it cool on a rack before slicing.


I chose French Baguettes, also from allrecipes.com, adapted to bake in the oven rather than a bread machine.

• 1 cup water
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour (We didn't have bread flour, so I used all-purpose)
  
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (I used active dry yeast)
  
• 1 egg yolk (I skipped this step because I didn't have a pastry brush to brush on the egg yolk)
  
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Place 1 cup water, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast into bread machine pan in the order recommended by manufacturer. Select Dough cycle, and press Start.
2. When the cycle has completed, place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
3. Punch down dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 16x12 inch rectangle. Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Non bread machine directions:
Combine water, sugar and yeast to proof. Add salt, then flour and knead until no longer sticky. Place in bowl and rise 30 minutes. Follow recipes directions above to the end.

We liked the flavor of both of these breads, although we expected them to rise more. The Cranberry Walnut Bread was chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside. The baguettes were miniature, and unfortunately we only ended up eating one out of two baguettes. The second one we didn't get around to using right away, and it became hard as a rock.

From the Grocery List to the Dinner Table

When grocery shopping, I bought the following for meals I had planned:

Tater tot hotdish (Bought hamburger, tater tots, cream of mushroom soup for this)

Grilled pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, sugar snap peas (Bought pork chops, had sweet potatoes, bought veggies for $1.50-$0.35=$1.15)

Turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, squash (Bought ground turkey $2.99/20 oz. pkg., potatoes, squash)

Baked pasta (Used hamburger and shredded cheese I bought, plus some mushrooms and spinach, had pasta and sauce)

Chicken tacos (Bought chicken breasts for $7.97, whole wheat tortillas for $2.39)

I also bought other groceries:

Breakfast items--

Johnsonville sausage $2.99, Kashi cereal $3.33-$1.50=$1.83

Lunch--

Tortilla chips, juice boxes, ripple chips, bread, deli turkey, deli salami

Snacks--

Nestle Crunch $1.99-$1/2=$1.49 each, Goldfish $1.79-$0.35=$1.44, CheezIts $1.66, Cake donuts $1.99, Tribe hummus $1.49, ice cream

Produce--

Broccoli, garlic, baby bella mushrooms, bananas, spinach, organic carrots, apples, onions, green cabbage ($0.44/lb.), potatoes, pears, butternut squash

Dairy--

Butter $2.49, Yoplait 4 pk. $1.49-$0.50=$0.99, Activia $1.99-$1=$0.99, Coffeemate $0.99, eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, chunk cheese, orange juice, 3 gallons of milk

Pantry/freezer items--

Hershey chocolate chips $0.99 each, canned pumpkin $0.99, Del Monte canned fruit 10/$10 (must buy 10), Del Monte canned veggies 10/$8 (must buy 8), McCains sweet potato fries $1.99, Frozen mixed berries $2.66-$0.35=$2.31, flour, coffee, walnut pieces, sweetened condensed milk, popcorn kernals, spaghetti noodles, rosemary, chicken drumsticks, hamburger, shredded cheese

Non-food--

Kitchen trash bags, glass cleaner

There was a General Mills deal for $5 off when you buy 10 items. I bought:

Chex Mix $1.49-$1/2 coupon=$0.99 each, Sweet Moments $1.99-$1=$0.99 each, Pillsbury pie crust $2.49-$1/2=$1.99 each, Yoplait Smoothies $1.99-$0.75=$1.24 each

There was also a Con Agra deal for $3 off when you buy 10 items. I bought:

Hunts spaghetti sauce $0.88 each, Hunts Snack Pack pudding $0.88-$0.50/2=$0.63 each, Peter Pan peanut butter $1.49-$0.50-$0.99, Pam cooking spray $2.19, RoTel tomatoes $0.69, Hunt's ketchup $0.88, Reddi Wip $1.69

Freebies--

Skittles FREE with coupon my oldest son got from entering a code from a Skittle package

I saved $110.27 or 34% on this shopping trip.

Menu Plan Monday 67

I haven't posted a menu in a few weeks, but I have been planning all along. Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday--Homemade vegetable soup, rolls
Monday--Country style ribs cooked in the crock pot, baked potatoes, butternut squash
Tuesday--Dill crusted salmon, rice pilaf, veggie
Wednesday--Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, veggie
Thursday--Not sure, something with chicken thighs or ground beef
Friday--Pizza
Saturday--TBD

Apple Pie

We got a bunch of apples from a friend of my husband's, and hubby requested that I make apple pie with some of them. I went over to allrecipes.com and found this highly rated recipe for Grandma Ople's Apple Pie. I had never made a lattice crust before, so I just winged it. The pie was awesome!

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I used Pillsbury refrigerated crust)
  
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I didn't use Granny Smith, just whatever variety we were given, which were a semi-tart, firm apple)
  

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.