What's On Your Plate This Week?

 

I am so excited to be starting this weekly Monday blog post, and I hope that lots of people will share what they eat in the week for dinner. FYI this is a long post. In case you did not see my post from last week, here is a little recap; every Monday I will post what we ate last week plus what I plan on making this coming week as well. I hope to include pics, reviews, recipe links when available, etc. Now if you just want to talk about what you made without pictures or links, short post, long post, only want to post once a month etc that is fine.Whatever you want, just as long as you have fun! I thought also it would be a great way to find new recipes, if people share theirs when posting on their own blogs. At the end of this post will be Mister Linky so that you can link up to your own post to share with all of us.

 

What Did We Have Last Week?

 

Monday

Leftovers

 

Tuesday Baked Chicken and roasted vegetables:

 

The roasted veggies were potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, rosemary, thyme, and pepper. It was pretty good, as you can see I left out a few ingredients that is in the recipe, which I either didn't have or didn't want to use. Unfortunately, the baked chicken got a little dry (I didn't put enough sauce on it) but otherwise was good.

 

Wednesday: Smashed Potatoes with Turkey Chipotle Taco Seasoning and roasted veggies (recipe different from Tuesday's roasted veggies)

 

I remembered a quick meal my mom used to make as a kid but I changed it a little bit. My mom would always use baked potatoes with hamburger meat that just used regular taco seasoning. I didn't have big enough potatoes and really needed to use the leftovers from the day before (I had had them for awhile). So I just peeled and boiled the potatoes (you will need more than normal as you don't add milk, etc), drained, smashed them and put them on a plate with turkey meat with chipotle taco seasoning (I also put on top some cheese). As the chipotle taco seasoning was a little salty, so with the smashed potatoes didn't need anything else. Besides that I used the rest of the potatoes, leftover sweet potato from the night before, 2 parsnips, 2 carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme for some nice roasted veggies. As you can tell I usually change some things on recipes that I make. I only used enough veggies to cover half of a baking sheet, so it was just enough for one meal. We both really liked this dish, so I will make it in the future. Here is a picture of the leftover Smashed Potatoes with the turkey chipotle taco meat.

Thursday: Curried Pumpkin Soup and baguettes with gouda cheese

I had made this recipe only once before. The changes I made were; I used more pumpkin, chose to use the vegetable broth, added nutmeg, added cumin, and used more evaporated milk, salt, and pepper. I just added a little bit at a time until I liked the desired taste. It was good and I plan on making it more during the coming winter. It takes little time to make as well.

Friday: Slow-Cooked Bean Medley

I have never had this before as never tasted some of the beans used in this recipe. I love to use slow cookers/crockpots and that I just need to put in the ingredients and it cooks by itself. I added more brown sugar than what was called for in the recipe, as for me it was a little tangy. So, in the future when I make this I might just put in a little less Italian dressing. There was quite a bit of leftovers, so I decided to freeze some of it.

Saturday: Leftovers

It is just a smorgasbord of leftovers that were from several previous nights meals from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sunday: Leftovers

We still had some soup and bean medley left over so we had that. We added some smoked turkey sausage to the bean medley.

Meals This Week:

Monday: Leftovers

We don't have very much leftovers and I will be at an event tonight. So what doesn't get eaten tonight will be thrown out.

Tuesday: Potato Lentil Soup with rolls

I have made this a few times and it is pretty good. I usually cut down on the amount of chili powder used. It makes quite a bit, so I freeze some of the leftovers.

Wednesday: Velveeta Queso Blanco Mac and Cheese with green beans

Velveeta has a creamy version of mac and cheese that is really good. Even if your not normally a fan of Velveeta, try it. I usually get two packages so we have leftovers. They have the regular mac and cheese but also a queso blanco version too.

Thursday: Leftovers

We will have the leftovers of the potato lentil soup and mac and cheese.

Friday: Chicken Tika Masala over rice

I just use a store bought version of the Tika Masala Curry sauce and follow the instructions.

Saturday: (American) Goulash with Veggie Dish

I know lots of different people have names for this dish; hodge podge, American chop suey, goulash, etc., and all put a variety of somewhat different ingredients in it. My family just put in the hamburger (although I will substitute that with ground turkey), sauce, macaroni, and we usually added corn. I will also be making a veggie dish that consists of; frozen French cut green beans (although regular frozen green beans can be used), frozen corn, onion, sweet red bell pepper, olive oil, and dried basil (I just add it until I like the taste) until cooked through. The veggie dish is quick to make and freezes great.

Sunday: Veggie Bean Casserole with rolls

I make this a few times during the winter when we want to have a hearty meal with veggies. It also freezes well.

That is it for this long post. So what is on your plate this week?

Mah Jongg

I recently started playing Mah Jongg with a group of ladies I know this month. I am told the tile version is quite different compared to the computer game. It is a lot of fun though, even if we do not keep score, although we play by the national league rules. Has anyone else played? Below is the set I got.

Scary October Reads Check In #4

Where has this month gone? Only one more week left in the Scary October reads event, and I am not even half way through my choice of reading War and Peace. Although, I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish the over 1,300 pages in one month, but I was hopeful. Nevertheless, I am enjoying it, and even though it is a long book, it doesn't seem so scary since I started reading it. What about everyone else? Are you almost done reading your "scary" book, or like me and not even close to being finished? Are you liking it or is it too "frightening" as you feared? Let us know!

Idea for a weekly post What's On Your Plate This Week?

 

So starting next Monday, I plan on posting what dinner meals I will be making for the week. I will include recipe links (when available), pictures, reviews, did we like the food or will we revise it, did we freeze the leftovers, etc. I have found that it helps immensely if I have meals already scheduled, even if they are just leftovers. Otherwise it is really hectic and we eat really late. I thought a regular blog post on every Monday, would be beneficial to me to ensure that I always know what meals we will be eating, and perhaps others will share on their own blog, thus getting even more ideas for meals. On Monday I will post what we ate this week and upcoming meals as well. Included in my post will be Mister Linky, so that anyone who wants to post about their own meals can. So, will you join me next Monday?

Whats On Your Nightstand?

  I guess that I must have missed last month, so this will actually be for both September and October. I have read several books, so I will start with those first.

Books Read:




For a few of the books I have done reviews, below are the links to them:

Emma
Born of Persuasion
For Every Season
Hopelifter

Below are the books that I have continued to read from last month, just started this week or will be starting this week:

What is on your list?

It's Monday! What Are you reading?

  I have been reading a little bit this past week, but not as much as I would have liked too. Isn't that always the case? At least I accomplished reading one book though. Here is what I am currently reading:

FINISHED:

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline this book was pretty good.

 

 

Still Reading:

War and Peace, which even though it is slow going, I am enjoying it. I only wish the characters didn't have such long names, and that Tolstoy wouldn't shorten them sometimes and other times not, it gets a tad confusing with so many characters.

 

 

 

Jane Eyre, I am almost halfway through, and still trying to figure out the mystery of who Mr. Rochester appears to be, plus any secrets he may have. He seems to be a very complex person.

 

 

 

 

Just Started:

 

  I am still on the first chapter, so definitely haven't read too much of this book yet. I will be reviewing this book for Bethany House Publishers. I have never read anything from Jen Turano.

 

 This book is a historical fiction book that takes place in Vienna in 1938. A Jewish family and several others decide that they need to leave and go to Shanghai for their safety. However, after WWII starts to heat up with America entering the war, will they have to leave again because of the Japanese army? I haven't gotten to far, but really enjoying this book. 

 

So what are you all reading? Anything good? Any books to stay away from or hard to finish?

Upcoming Book Reviews...

I will be reviewing this three books in the next month or two. I just requested Dear Mr. Knightley from Book Sneeze which will be out on Nov 5 for the public. I can't wait to read it.

I have never read any books by Jen Turano, and will review it for Bethany House Publishers. It looks to be interesting. It is currently available to the public.

In My Hope is Found, is the last book in the Cadence of Grace Series by Joanne Biscof.  I got this book from Blogging for Books. I really enjoyed the first book, and need to read the second one first. I have heard though it is a good series. This is available to the public already.

Hopelifter book Review

  I recently read Hopelifter: Creative Ways to Spread Hope When Life Hurts by Kathe Wunnenberg. I received a free copy from Book Sneeze in exchange for my honest review. I thought this book had some good points, various stories of people's struggles, websites and organizations that help people in a variety of ways, but I had thought it would be more specific in how to help people. The author tells her own stories of struggles and how she started a support group for women that lost children throughout most of the book. Not to say that I did not like the book, but it was just different than what I had thought it would be. I rank this book 3 out of 5.

Scary October Reads Check In #3

Has is everyone doing on their scary book? Are you still reading yours? Have you gotten as far as you thought you would? I am way behind on mine, and am not even halfway through. Perhaps, War and Peace was a little much to try to read in one month. Other then that though, I am enjoying the book, only issue is that the large amount of characters usually have long names, sometimes a shortened version is used and other times the full name is used. That part is a little annoying. Let us know how your doing on your book!

 

 

 

It's Monday! What are you reading?

 

I am reading Orphan Train for the book club that I belong too. I need to finish reading it by Thursday, and so far I am about halfway through.

 

The other book that I have not gotten very far at all is War and Peace. It is good so far, but wish I was farther along in it.

Once I am done reading Orphan Train this week, I plan on starting another book, just not sure which one. What is everyone else reading? Want to share what your reading, click here.

Scary October Reads: Check In 2

How is everyone doing on their "scary" reads book? Unfortunately, I have not gotten any further in the my book this past week. Not because I am not enjoying it, but just been really busy. In the next few days I am going to be able to catch up on some reading. Are you at a point in your book that your stuck? Is it as you feared and scary or are you enjoying it? Tell us about it on your blog post by using Mister Linky below. Anyone can still join the Scary October Reads event here.

Scary October Reads: Check In #1

I apologize about the delay in this check in. I have started reading my "scary" book of War and Peace. Unfortunately, I have not gotten very far yet, but of the few pages I have read it is good so far. How is everyone's progress so far? Are you enjoying the book you chose? Have you gotten very far? Let us know in making your own post on your blog and using Mr. Linky below!

Scary October Reads Event: Pick Your Book

Today is the start of the Scary October Reads Event! I hope that everyone has picked out their "scary" book! Every Thursday of this month, I will post a check in, where everyone can link up to their progress of their book. Here is my "scary" book that I will be reading for this event:

 

I went back and forth in deciding to choose this book. In the end though, since this book "scares" me in different ways, I figured it was the perfect book to read. I have previously read one book by Tolstoy, and I just thought it was ok (I think I also didn't like the style of writing, if memory serves me correct). The number of pages of this book is "scary" to read 1,384 pages in a month. I figured this would be a good challenge. I do not know anyone who has read it. If anyone is still interesting in signing up for this event, click here, after all the more the merrier! What do you think of my choice? Have you read War and Peace? Use Mister Linky below, to post about your book that you will be reading.