Menu Plan Monday #19

Monday, January 24th- Sunday, January 31st

Monday, 25th:

Spaghetti with meat sauce and French Bread with Garlic Seasoning

Tuesday, 26th:

One-Pan Roasted Pork Supper

Wednesday, 27th:

One-Pot Salsa Beef Skillet

Thursday, 28th:

Crispy Chicken & Parmesan Vegetables

Friday, 29th:

Breakfast

Saturday, 30th:

BBQ Beef Fajitas

Sunday, 31st:

On your own; Church activities

Have a wonderful week!

Cheese-Lover's Pasta Roll-Ups

These babies are so delicious!

And surprisingly they were pretty easy to make, which surprised me.

Cheese-Lover's Pasta Roll-Ups-from Kraft Food & Family

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Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten

1 container (15 oz) Ricotta Cheese

2 cups Italian Cheese Blend, shredded

4 green onion, chopped

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce, divided

16 lasagna noodles, cooked

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*I add 1 pound cooked and drained ground beef

*I didn't have green onions so they weren't added and it was fine

*I used part skim milk Ricotta cheese

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Mix first 5 ingredients until well blended, (this is where I added the cooked, drained ground beef).

3. Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce onto bottom of 9x13-inch baking dish. Spread each noodle with 3 Tbsp cheese mixture (or 1/4 cup if you added ground beef); roll up. Place, seam-sides down; in dish. Top with remaining sauce and Parmesan; cover. (I had a little beef and cheese mixture left so I put it on top of the noodles).

4. Bake 40-50 minutes or until heated through; uncovering the last 10 minutes.

*This is a great make-ahead dish and it makes a ton. Next time, I'm going to use 2, 9 inch square pans and freeze the other for another meal down the road and just cook one of them for dinner since there's only 2 of us.

*If you make the day before, cover with heavy duty foil, refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

*If you freeze the roll-ups, freeze up to 1 month. When ready to serve, thaw overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered, 1 hour 5 min. or until heated through, uncovering the last 10 minutes.

Enjoy this meal!

It seems like a lot of steps, but it really is easy, I promise. I don't like spending a whole lot of time on meals so I wouldn't tell you it was easy if it wasn't easy.

See the picture below on the roll-ups served with French Bread with Garlic Seasoning.

8 servings, 2 roll-ups each

460 calories, 16 fat grams, 740 Sodium, 54 Carbs, 4 Fiber, 25 Protein (add more protein if ground beef is added to dish)

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Garlic Bread Seasoning

Homemade Garlic Bread Seasoning-from The Double Dipped Life

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1/2 cup powdered parmesan cheese

2 tsp Kosher salt

2 Tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

2 tsp marjoram

2 tsp parsley

Combine all ingredients in a jar (use one with a shaker top if you'll use it to shake on top of things).

Goes great with pizza sauces, on top of pizza, in sauces, on top of breadsticks OR

combine 1 1/2 Tbsp garlic seasoning with a stick of softened butter. Spread on loaf of french bread (cut in 1/2 lengthwise), wrap in foil and bake and 375 degrees F until butter is melted. Or open face up under broiler for a few minutes until brown and crispy. I put it in the broiler more often because I like my bread crunchy.

I put my garlic seasoning in an empty jam jar and doubled the recipe. I have a feeling I'll be using it quite a bit so I went ahead and doubled it.

I forgot to take a picture of the butter/seasoning mixture spread on my french bread. But it was more than enough to spread over the 2 pieces of french bread. And it was wonderful!

Asparagus Deliciousness

I love asparagus!

Unfortunately, I'm the only one in my house that likes it.

Thankfully we have a small toaster oven that I can cook 10 or so stalks for just me. I don't like it mushy. I like it tender/crisp because I love some crunch in my food.

So this is how I prepare my asparagus...

Asparagus-from Me

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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place as much asparagus as you want on a greased cookie sheet.

3. Drizzle oil (I use olive oil) on top of asparagus.

4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or any other seasoning you like.

5. Cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

6. Place immediately on a plate and eat, eat, eat.

I can scarf my asparagus in less than 3 minutes. I just love it!

French Bread

I love bread! But who doesn't?

My friend SnoWhite, over at Joy in my Kitchen has a wonderful french bread recipe that I make a bunch. It's easy and delicious and everywhere I take it gets rave reviews! She has a wheat version coming soon and I can't wait to try it!

No more talking and more writing on the bread recipe! So here it is...

French Bread (for the bread machine)-from SnoWhite

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Makes 1 1/2 lb loaf (enough for a family of 4)

1 cup + 1 Tbsp warm water (about 80 degrees F)

3 cups bread flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces

2 tsp active dry yeast OR 1 1/2 tsp bread machine/fast rise yeast

Depending on the order ingredients go into your bread machine... place ingredients in the machine. I combined mine the following way:

1. Place warm water in the bread maker

2. Butter, cut into chunks

3. Salt

4. 3 cups bread flour

5. Sugar

6. Yeast

Then set the bread machine on the dough setting and allow dough to knead. My setting takes about an hour and a half.

After dough cycle ends, remove dough and place on floured surface. Cover and allow dough to sit for 15 minutes.

Knead dough just a bit and shape into a loaf.

Cover, and let dough rise for 30 minutes. Rising a bit longer won't hurt it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly spray a cookie sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes or until slightly browned on top. Mine usually takes 20-22 minutes.

Let cool a bit before cutting into. And enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday #18

Monday, 18th- Sunday, 24th

It looks to be a good eating week, as usual.

And I'm entering my 14th week of pregnancy! Everything is still going great. I have six more weeks until we find out what Baby is and I'm/We're very excited. I hope the six weeks go by quickly. I'm ready to know and start getting everything ready since I'm super-organized.

Monday, 18th:

Caribbean Pork 'N Rice

Tuesday, 19th:

I have a ladies small group study, so Hubby is on his own

Wednesday, 20th:

Taco Bake

Thursday, 21st:

Weeknight Ravioli Bake

Friday, 22nd:

Pizza Bread

Saturday, 23rd:

Sausage and Tomato Rigatoni

Sunday, 24th:

On Your Own

Have a great week!

Simple Pull-Apart Rolls

I love these rolls. It makes a ton from just one batch. And they have a little bit of sweet taste which makes them even better. I made about 27 pans of these for Christmas gifts in 2009; they were a hit! I also paired a small jar of homemade peach jam that my mom and I made this summer. Everyone had rave reviews about both. I don't think I'll be able to do all the pans for Christmas 2010 with a baby, but I'll figure something out. If I had a bigger freezer I could make a batch or two a day and freeze them and then give them out just like usual. We'll see how it goes.

Simple Pull-Apart Rolls-from Cooking During Stolen Moments

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3/4 cup butter; room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup boiling water

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp yeast (or 2 packets)

1 cup warm water

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking sodaa

7-8 flour (I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour from time to time)

1. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with the sugar until creamy. Add the boiling water and mix to combine. Cool to room temperature.

2. While that cools, dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water. Add to mixing bowl along with the eggs. Mix well. Stir in salt, baking powder, baking soda and 5 1/2 cups flour, until combined.

3. Working with 1/2 cup at a time, add remaining flour until dough comes together. It's okay if the dough is a little sticky. Knead on a floured surface for 8 minutes.

4. Roll the dough into evenly shaped balls, about the size of a golf ball and place into 3 round pans (8 or 9 inch). Cover and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

And enjoy!

To freeze: Cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and freeze.