New Year's Eve

I thought I'd post our plans for New Years Eve with the kiddos tonight...

Dinner will be tamales (cheese, pork, or chicken), salad, and spanish rice. We have bundt cake in the freezer for dessert.

We're going to play Sorry, and maybe some wii. I think I am going to have my little guy do this tonight, just for fun. And, if I can get the gingerbread made for tomorrow's house decorating with friends, I will help my 5 year old make noise-makers from the many empty toilet paper rolls we have lying around the house!

What are your New Year's traditions or plans?

Change of Plans

We went to visit my in-laws yesterday (after a mother/son trip to the Aquarium) and picked up tamales for dinner tonight. Alas, my adventures in gnocci making will have to happen another weekend. Tomorrow night, we'll be having the last of the prime rib from our Christmas in beef stroganoff. So, tonight, my job is easy... heat the tamales and make a salad and some spanish rice (MIL's recipe take one) I'll post the recipe this evening.


Happy New Year to all of my readers!

Menu Plan for the week

This week is pretty mellow because of the holidays. We have some leftover chocolate roulade (wich after many hours of cooking, my stepson calls the Christmas ho ho) and prime rib. We are heading down to my in-laws on Wednesday, so I won't be cooking much.

Monday: macaroni and cheese with cauliflower
Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken salad (sandwiches for the boys)
Wednesday: dinner at my in-laws
Thursday: gnocci
I may do a mushroom sauce
Friday (New Year's): Dinner with friends and decorating gingerbread houses with the kids

We are trying to get back to healthy this week, since we have pigged out a lot in the last week! Also, on New Year's Day, I am running in the Resolution Run in my home town. What are you up to for New Years? Do you have any special family traditions?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Our day was mellow, and my husband, stepson and I had Christmas with my in-laws today, but we will do Christmas on Sunday as a family, when my son is home. I am so excited, he gets home tomorrow! He's been gone too long.

I made rolls, pumpkin pie, and 2 types of cookies yesterday. I want to share a couple of the recipes with my readers later this week, but I am going to try one of them again because it didn't turn out quite right. I will also be making peanut butter and snickerdoodles (again) to send over to my bother in Iraq. I wanted to make them with my son next week so he can add to the Christmas box we're sending over.

We did open gifts today at my in-laws today and I got this! In the next few weeks, I am sure I will be posting my new adventures with it. I have been attempting to do them in a pan on the stove, and its just not the same. I can't wait to start making sandwiches and other things on my new panini press! Tomorrow I will be working on the chocolate cake for our Christmas dinner on Sunday with my dad.

Did anyone get new kitchen gadgets for Christmas? If so, what did you get?

Let the baking begin!

Today, I head to the grocery store to do my Christmas grocery shopping. I'm going to make the amazing rolls I made for Thanksgiving again from Pioneer woman. I'm also making pumpkin pie, which was requested by my mother in law (this coming from a family who doesn't like pumpkin pie!

I'm making french onion soup for Christmas Eve dinner, prime rib for Christmas dinner, and I'm going to try a Chocolate Rouldade with raspberry filling for our Christmas dinner.

Oh, and don't forget the cookies!I'm planning to make the soup, cake for the rouldade and pie crusts today. My husband is working tomorrow, so I plan to do cookies and the pie tomorrow. I will post about how its going and the progress I make as I do it.

Merry Christmas to everyone! What are you baking this year?

Busy elves!

Yes, I was busy tonight! In addition to making snickerdoodles and Craisin white chocolate chip cookies, I also made an extra special lunch for my 5 year old. I was really excited by how it turned out so I wanted to share!



I made a gingerbread man cheese quesadilla with craisin buttons on a bed of shredded carrots, a snickerdoodle made by me, broccoli steamed in the microwave for 30 seconds with a little cheese, and honey bunny crackers with craisins. The note says, "Hi John Christopher, your mommy asked me to tell you she loves you! Gotta run, here comes the fox! GM" His kindergarten class has been doing their gingerbread man theme the last 2 weeks, so I wanted to do something to go with that. I can't wait to hear what he thinks!

Tis the season...

for cookies! I'll be baking some different ones next year, but tonight its the simpler ones. One of my favorites to make is the Craisin white chocolate chip cookie recipe. Its very simple and easy to make, and you can add whatever suits your fancy to the recipe (like semi-sweet chocolate chips)

They are yummy, and just the thing to start with! Did I mention I'm just beginning?

I digress...

I am taking a break from food posting, and wanted to share something about me. I started running about 6 weeks ago, and I'm loving it! I am doing the Couch to 5k program and it feels so good to be outside and do my exercise, even in the cold weather. I just registered myself for the Mermaid Run in Mountain View in April. I signed up for the 10k, since I will have 2-3 5ks under my belt by then. I am so excited to be doing this! I'm running the 5k Resolution run in my hometown on New Year's Day. My son is so excited, because I signed him up for the kids' run after my race. I think the week after Christmas, we'll go to the track a few times and he can practice running a longer distance. He's definitely a short distance runner, so fast! I never thought I would be a runner, p until about 2 months ago, I hated it! To be able to accomplish these things at almost 40, what a rush!

What do you do for yourself that makes you feel great? What exercises give you that feeling where you keep wanting to do it?

This week's meal plan

Hard to believe that we're less than 2 weeks until Christmas! I am trying to keep it simple this week since I plan to spend a couple evenings baking cookies and another evening wrapping gifts for my wonderful first graders!

Monday: Macaroni and cheese with cauliflower

Tuesday: Calzone pinwheels
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Calzone-Pinwheels?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+taste-of-home+(Taste+of+Home)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Wednesday: fritata and pumpkin muffins


Thursday: Turkey Chili (I am making an extra batch for my dear friend who is going through chemo therapy)

Friday: Pizza or burgers. Depends on what we're in the mood for!

This marks the beginning of my vacation (Watch for some extra fun posts next week, when I do some baking!)

Saturday: I'm going to make a smaller version of this this week- http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/08/spicy-shredded-pork/

I am also on the hunt for a new holiday dessert. My apple pies are always a hit (even with my picky stepson) but since I have a new family, I want to start some new traditions that are just for us! If you have any special holiday traditions for you family, let me know!

Weekly Menu Plan

I have had a bit of trouble in the past week or so getting motivated to cook. I made some leftover recipes with the leftover turkey, but after that, its been boring fare! I made Sloppy Joes last week, which were good, but I wanted to get back to some creative cooking this week.

I always find that I am better about us eating at home and grocery shopping once during the week if I plan, otherwise, Whole Foods is so convenient!

Here's the plan for this week:

Monday: Wolfgang Puck's tortilla soup
(tonight the 5 year old and I are also going to bake chocolate chip cookins to celebrate his yellow belt last week)

Tuesday: Pasta bake with marinara, mozzarella, and sausage

Wednesday: Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Thursday: I'm going to make my own version of this: I'll post when I figure out what I'm doing! http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/Healthified/turkey-artichoke-panini.aspx

Friday: Homemade pizza (I think, lol!)

Saturday: My son and I are heading to The Nutcracker and then to Christmas in the Park to meet up with friends. I think we'll have a treat and eat out on Saturday.

So, my question for my reader is... When you run out of inspiration for your dinners, where do you turn? And when you don't end up cooking, where do you go? Is it healthy or quick, easy, and not so healthy?