Weekly meal plan 3rd week of June

Monday: 7 layer dip & chips (Perhaps a bit non-traditional but a favorite dinner here)
Tuesday: Pork tacos w/extra grilled tenderloin from last Sunday cut in strips
Wednesday: Campfire Stew/Foil Dinners from Paula Deens "My first cookbook"
Thursday: Hash w/tofu & eggs & leftovers
Friday: BBQ Chicken thighs & pasta salad
Saturday: BBQ Chicken pizza w/leftover bbq chicken
Sunday: Dad's choice (unknown as of yet)

Grilled pork tenderloin

What we had for dinner Sunday:

Alton Brown's Grilled Pork Tenderloin in marinade. Make it now. It's delicious. You'll be glad you did. It is delicious, flavorful, easy...

How to get cheap pork tenderloin? Use this coupon Gather Round the Grill pork coupon at the store when you buy charcoal and one other item. Did you know tenderloin is best cooked quickly?

We bought several large pork tenderloins with these coupons and then split them to make multiple dinners. Cooking them this way was awesome. It is delicious. Here's the link again: Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Chocolate sandwich cookies

When I was young, there was a mom at church who made these delicious cookies that were like "Oreos" but better - at least that was my introduction to them the first time I tasted them. She wouldn't share the recipe with anyone. It was her secret, at least until she moved away. She then gave it to my mom and one other mom to have as a secret, since she was moving across the country.

The recipe is quite simple. However if you are expecting it to taste like an Oreo, you will be disappointed. I know my reaction was "That's not how an Oreo tastes!" To which I was told something like "Yeah, it's better!" It is a delicious sandwich cookie but with a soft cookie and a cream cheese filling, it is different and tastes nothing like an Oreo to me. It is, however, delicious and easy and totally worth the time to make.

I was reminded of these simple treats by a facebook message from a friend asking for the recipe. I called my mom and she laughed and said it was on the internet already and told me where. She never was one for the big "secret" of it all. Since it's already out there for others to find, I think its fine for me to share it here. Hope you enjoy!

Home Made Oreo Cookies

2 (18 ounce) boxes devil's food cake mix
4 eggs, beaten well
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup butter
4 ounces cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix eggs, cake mix, and oil together well.

2. Shape into gumball sizes balls.

3. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

Inside Cream Filling:

1. Mix butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together.

2. When cookies are completly cool frost the flat side of one cookie, place another cookie on top of the frosting (flat side to flat side).

Weekly meal plan 2nd week of June

Monday: Leftover chicken curry (made a double batch on Saturday)
Tuesday: Tangy chicken bowl (using leftover chicken from Sunday) (recipe is from BH&G Low Cost Cooking)
Wednesday: Potato, Egg, Sausage, & Tofu Hash (using leftovers and excess in the fridge)
Thursday: Steak fajitas (found some steaks half price at store, making 2 meals from them)
Friday: Steak salad (like chef salad with steak strips from previous day)
Saturday: Homemade Pizzas
Sunday: Pork loin (next day will be pork too!) & potatoes

This week dinners are mostly without recipes. DH will make the pork loin on Sunday and will probably research a recipe online he likes.

Weekly Meal plan 1st week June

Dinners

Monday: Grilled Fish
Tuesday: Hamburgers
Wednesday: Calzones
Thursday: Corn Chowder in slow cooker
Friday: Spinach Ricotta Pie
Saturday: Chicken Curry
Sunday: Roast chicken & potatoes

This week's menu mostly comes from Moosewood Cookbook, one of my favorites.

Meatloaf "Surprise"

This recipe is actually called Savory Scotch Meat Loaves, and is in the Better Home and Garden's Low Cost Cooking Cookbook. But with my kids we call it Meatloaf Surprise, because of the surprise of an egg inside. It is quite tasty and economical as well as easy. According to tonight's dinner conversation, the boys would like to start experimenting with different surprises on the inside. We'll see how those experiments go, I guess they aren't being surprised by the egg inside anymore.

Having been inspired by $5 dinners, I'm endeavoring to calculate the total cost to make this meal as well.

This recipe makes 4 servings:

Hard boil 4 eggs, peel and set aside. $0.40

Mix together:

1 lb ground beef (or pork or turkey) $1.58
1 beaten egg $0.10
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs (I just put a piece of bread in the food processor) $0.05
1/4 cup finely chopped onion $0.16
1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper $0.25
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper

Shape one-fourth of the mixture around each hard cooked egg, completely enclosing the egg. Arrange in an 8x8 baking dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Drain off excess fat.

Mix together:

1/2 cup ketchup $0.25
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vinegar $0.01
1/2 tsp chili powder $0.01
1/4 tsp dried oregano, crushed $0.01

Pour sauce over meat loaves and bake in 350 degree oven for an additional 15 minutes. If desired, top with shredded cheese.

Total cost: $2.82

Serve with a salad.

Here is a link to the original picture.

Grandma's Fudge Pecan Pie

An important recipe during the holidays at my home. I like Pecan Pie, but I adore and cherish Fudge Pecan Pie. It's easier to do in my opinion too. Mmmm...

½ c butter/margarine

3 T. cocoa

¾ c. hot water

2 c. sugar

½ c. flour

1/8 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

small can evaporated milk ( approx 6 oz)

1 ½ c. pecans chopped

9 in. pie shell unbaked

In medium saucepan melt butter and cocoa until dissolved.

Add hot water, stir.

With wire whisk blend in sugar, flour, salt.

Add vanilla and evaporated milk stir

When smooth, mix in pecans, pour in shell

Bake on cookie sheet for 50 minutes or until done at 350 Fahrenheit.

Strawberry Lemon Puddings

I love strawberries. The delicious little bursts of summer are wonderful. We only eat them fresh when they are in season, as the usually tasteless versions that they sell at the store the rest of the year are disappointing. Luckily, I keep the freezer full of frozen berries, so when the desire to have a reminder of summer comes, we are able. When you encounter a recipe like this one - a twist on a strawberry shortcake from Tyler Florence. I would have bought berries to make this recipe, I wanted to try it so badly.

Reading the recipe was all it took to want to make these little beauties. Layers of a lemon curd cream, strawberries, pound cake... yum! The tart lemon curd cream with the sweet strawberries and velvety pound cake mix together wonderfully.

I had to make some adjustments for what I had on hand. No Meyer lemons here, just lemon juice. My ramekins aren't straight sided and my pound cake was too rectangular to cut into rounds, but the layers worked out just fine. I didn't have any leftover crumbs as a result, so those weren't on top either. I think they turned out pretty to look at anyway and they were certainly tasty. They were large generous portions too. Almost too big for me. This is a great recipe for a make ahead dessert you can keep in the fridge and pull out to serve when ready.

STRAWBERRY LEMON PUDDINGS

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 35 minutes

Pudding:

1 pound cake, store bought

1/2 cup lemon curd, store bought (or homemade)

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 cup powdered sugar

Strawberries:

2 cups of strawberries, hulled and sliced

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 Meyer lemon, juice only

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Set a small saucepan over medium heat and add strawberries, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar.

3. Set over medium heat to macerate for 4-5 minutes then remove form heat to cool.

4. In a large mixing bowl, whip heavy cream until you reach soft peaks. Fold in powdered sugar and lemon curd - a little at a time until they come together.

5. Set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the cake.

6. Using an inverted ramekin, carefully slice the pound cake into 1/4-inch thick, round slices. They should fit snugly inside of the ramekin itself. With the remaining scraps of pound cake, break up into coarse crumbs and toast on a sheet tray in the oven for 5 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.

7. Now layer the puddings. Start with a layer of the lemon cream on the bottom, followed by cake, strawberries, lemon cream and cake again. Drizzle this layer of cake with syrup from the strawberries then top with a nice swirl of lemon cream and some toasted pound cake crumbs. Enjoy!

Orange Cream popsicles

My son has been gaining a big interest in cooking this summer. He watches Good Eats with me, and asks if we can make various recipes. He helps when it interests him, but leaves boring things like stirring for long periods of time over the stove, for me to do.

At his request, we searched for and chose a recipe for creamy orange popsicles. I'm not really sure what prompted that request - we'd looked at popsicle recipes before, but never creamy orange ones or any variation close to that and I can't remember him ever having an orange creamsicle either. But whatever the reason, that's what he wanted to make as a surprise for his dad one day, so we started them.

It's a drawn out process, as you make a sorbet and a custardy ice cream mix and then shape them or mix them in a mold as we did. The recipe we used was from Gale Gand at the Food Network.

However, I didn't juice fresh tangerines or lemons, we used canned orange juice and lemon juice in the name of simplicity. And we used popsicle molds instead of making little balls as her recipe suggests. I put in chunks of sorbet and then squished the custard mix over the top. They may not be as pretty as store bought ones, but the taste was even better! Try 'em! :)

ETA: We loved these a TON. We're going to be making them again I'm sure. I have a few ideas for streamlining and making it a one day process, they are so tasty!

Chocolate hazelnut spread (like Nutella)

Mmmm....nutella....

The beautiful blend of chocolate and hazelnuts that makes up nutella has long been a favorite of mine. I remember my first experiences with it at breakfast in a hotel in Europe. I then went to a grocery store to obtain more, and the exciting moment of understanding between myself and the clerk and following him thru the store, him yelling "Nutella! Nutella!" before arriving next to it. Yum.

So when my dear friend sent me a few links (another) (one more) for make your own nutella, I wasn't sure. Is it really that simple? A bag of hazelnuts purchased, a quick ride in the food processor - and of course fresh bread to place it on and my husband & I were in chocolate hazelnut heaven. Mmmm.....

It isn't as fine of a grind as the commercially made nutella - that is an equipment problem that I won't be able to fix. But I got to use dark chocolate cocoa in it which made it delicious! The first batch was gone within 5 minutes of being made. Thankfully it took less than 5 minutes to make so no big loss!

Do yourself a favor and try this recipe. Simple, delicious, satisfying... I will be trying some of the other versions, though the simplicity of this version is nice. And if you aren't really sure - half the recipe - though then it disappears faster!

Homemade Nutella Recipe

2 cups chopped hazelnuts
3/4 cup to 1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/8 to 1/4 cup canola oil

Place hazelnuts in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until nuts start to clump together in a ball. This will take some time (about five minutes), so be patient.

Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder and process again for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture turns dark and the ingredients are well combined.

Now, slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spread.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 weeks.