Menu Planner Monday - 2/25/2013

Taco Lasagna - I am planning this late in the week.

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken - I love fettuccine and this looks delicious.

Tacos - ground beef is already cooked and seasoned in the freezer

Crockpot Spaghetti - I want to cooked several batches and freeze.
Salad with Outback Steak House Ranch Dressing


Cheddar Bake Chicken
Potato Skins by Brown Eyed Baker
Avalanche Bark

Kick A$$ Chicken
Mac 'n Cheese

Slow Cooker Beef Fajitas - Already made, it will just need to be warmed up

Chicken Fajitas - already soaking in Dale's Sauce




Extras
Cake in a Jar - I want to try these because I really want to make them for some military friends.
Strawberries and Cream Puppy Chow - My son will be getting this in his Valentine's box.
Spicy Party Mix
Ice Cream Cupcakes
Slow Cooked White Chocolate Strawberry and Cream Cake - recipe is for raspberry but I am using strawberries.

Molten Butterscotch Cakes

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a couple of months now.  I finally tried it last night.

I really like it, my husband said it was okay but it wasn't going to be a favorite.  But it really isn't some thing he would like a lot.  I will fix it again.

I found the recipe in Betty Crocker's Top-Rated Recipes.  You can also find it on the Betty Crocker page.

If you make it, please leave a comment on what you think.

Molten Butterscotch Cakes

6 teaspoon graham cracker crumbs
1 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup butter
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup brown sugar; packed
1/2 cup all purpose flour

• Heat oven to 450°F. Spray bottoms and sides of 6 (6-ounce) custard cups with baking spray with flour. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon cracker crumbs onto bottom and around side of each cup. 
• In 1-quart saucepan, melt butterscotch chips and butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat whole eggs and egg yolks with wire whisk or egg beater until well blended. Beat in brown sugar. Beat in melted butterscotch mixture and flour until well blended. Divide batter evenly among custard cups. Place cups on cookie sheet with sides.
• Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until sides are set and centers are still soft (tops will be puffed and cracked). Let stand 3 minutes. Run small knife or metal spatula along sides of cakes to loosen. Immediately place individual dessert plate upside down over top of each cup; turn plate and cup over. Remove cup. Serve warm.

 

Tips

This luscious dessert tastes even better when served with a big scoop of praline pecan ice cream.

 If the centers of the baked cakes are not of a pudding like consistency, next time bake them a few minutes less.

Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup

This recipe has been on my menu for several weeks.  I found it on Allrecipes.  My husband and I love Mexican so I was looking forward to trying the recipe.   My mother has a ground beef recipe, she likes for Taco soup.  I thought the chicken would be healthier.  It was delicious.  It will definitely be a repeat recipe.

Instead of using tomato sauce, I used salsa.



Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped 1 (16 ounce) can chili beans 1 (15 ounce) can black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer 2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with

green chilies, undrained 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning 3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts shredded Cheddar cheese (optional) sour cream (optional) crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Directions:

1.	Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
2.	Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Fondues

Do you have a fondue or a chocolate fountain?  Then you must check on this site.  I didn't go through the whole site because I am still a little out of it from my nerve block today.  But I will be checking it out later in the week.  I have a fondue but not a fountain.  I may have to consider picking one up after seeing this site.

I hope you find something useful.

Best Fondue

Refrigerator and Freezer Safety Chart

I ran across this chart over on pinterest and I thought I would share it with you. 

Crockpot Spaghetti

I found this recipe over on Savingyoudinero.  I was looking for some new meals to have in the freezer and I think this is going to be a bad cook week for me so I am going to make this up.  I want to have 3-4 servings to go in the freezer.

I am going to change the recipe to fit my needs.  I am going to use my own homemade spaghetti sauce and I can't decided whether I am going to use regular spaghetti noodles or corkscrew pasta.  Maybe even egg noodles.  Maybe I should check the pantry and see what I have.

When I put some thing like this in the freezer, I like to put the pasta and any other needed ingredients aside so it doesn't get used for something else. 

When I make this up, I will try to take some pictures.  I really need to start taking more pictures of our meals.  I will try to get better at it.


Casserole Spaghetti
Serves 6-8

• 1 ½ lb ground beef
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• ½ cup celery, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes or sauce
• 2 Tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoon salt (I add more after it’s cooked)
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 12 oz spaghetti or other pasta
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I use a Mexican mix)

Instructions

1. Cook ground beef. Drain and cool completely. (Or you can cook it the morning you prepare the meal and add it to the crock pot.)
2. Add it to the ziploc bag with the  green pepper, onion, celery,  garlic cloves, tomatoes, chili pepper, salt, and pepper.

Write in the bag

1. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 5-6 hours on low.
2. When it’s almost done, cook spaghetti according to package and drain.
3. Add cooked spaghetti and about 1 cup of cheese to the crock pot and mix well.
4. Add more cheese to the top and serve!

Menu Planner Monday

Here is my menu for the week.  I have too many ideas on here but I like to have a couple of extras in case I don't feel like cooking one of them.

Buffalo Chicken Roll-ups

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup  - This has been on the menu for three weeks.  I may start it tonight for tomorrow.
Potato Skins by Brown Eyed Baker
Avalanche Bark


Cheddar Bake Chicken
Salad with Outback Steak House Ranch Dressing

Beef Mozzarella Roll-ups - Already made and in the freezer
Green Beans and Potatoes

Potato Soup

Cheesy Chicken
Baked Potatoes - cooking these in the crockpot

Tacos

Cheesy Ranch Pasta



 

Menu Possibilities

Brown Eyed Baker had a list this week of possible Super Bowl ideas.  I snagged several of them.  Maybe you will find something you like.

Taco Dip - This sounds really good.  I think I am going to mix some up to clean in the refrig for chips.

Hot Corn Dip - It will probably be summer before I try this one, but it is definitely going on my to try list.  I wonder how I can put the list on here for everyone to see.

Pizza Dip - Wow, I could eat this as a meal.

Loaded Baked Potato Dip - Another great sounding one.  I just don't know which one to fix first.

Chile Con Queso - We love chips and dip around here and we have been looking for good Chili Con Queso, so I can't wait to try this one.

I found another great site.  You will find a link on the link page.  It is called Life, Love and Sugar.

Strawberries and Cream Puppy Chow -  My son loves strawberries and regular puppy chow, so I will be making this for Valentine's Day and mailing it to him at college.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Bars

Cake in a Jar - We have several friends who are in the military.  I think these would be wonderful.  I may have to make some up this week.

Taco Lasagna - I love regular lasagna but every one here also loves Mexican food so this might be the best of both worlds.

Looking at this, next week might be Mexican week.  This will be my last recipe for the week.  This list is longer than I meant for it to be.

Oven Tacos - I love tacos and this might be the answer to the shells cracking.  I will let you know if it works.