This is a story of success. Success so sweet I could eat it with a spoon. Literally.

Yesterday we were tasked with preparing salad for our small group dinner. Since most salad dressings contain refined sugar and lots of ingredients I can’t pronounce, I needed to come up with a good, homemade recipe.

Thanks to Google and a little recipe tweaking, I stumbled upon a winner.

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
(adapted from this recipe)

1 and 1/2 cup plain organic yogurt
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup local honey

Whisk together until well mixed. Refrigerate in mason jar or other air tight container.

This makes a full (to the top) pint mason jar. Not sure exactly how long it will last, but I’m thinking about a week.

I also made the Ranch dressing recipe from $5 Dinners substituting plain yogurt for the mayonnaise. It is good, as well, but the yogurt flavor is much more prevalent. I think it’s just something I’ll need to get used to.

Either way, the honey mustard is delicious! Enjoy!

So, here’s our plan for the week.

Friday – order pizza
Saturday – lunch: picnic / dinner: barbecue, roasted red potatoes, baked beans, cheese biscuits
Sunday – lunch: leftover barbecue / dinner: small group – french toast, sausage, fruit
Monday – chicken pot pie
Tuesday – leftover pot pie
Wednesday – slow cooker potato soup
Thursday – leftover soup

My slow cooker bit the dust this weekend after cooking the barbecue, so I’m not sure about the potato soup. I guess I’ll try the same recipe but cooking it in the stockpot on the stove. We’ll see how it turns out.

Have a good week!

Friday – order pizza
Saturday – lunch: out / dinner: tortellini soup & homemade bread
Sunday – lunch: out / dinner: leftovers
Monday – leftover tortellini soup
Tuesday – pasta al forno
Wednesday – leftover pasta
Thursday – meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green peas (still on the menu from a couple of weeks ago)

Happy Monday!

Friday – pizza
Saturday – lunch: fend (sandwiches, frozen, etc) / dinner: tacos & fixings
Sunday – lunch: taco leftovers / dinner: ?
Monday – chicken broccoli casserole & rolls
Tuesday – leftover casserole
Wednesday – meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas
Thursday – waffles or pancakes, bacon

Have a great weekend!

Anyway, here’s what we’re eating this week…

Friday – pizza

Saturday – out

Sunday – small group: chili dogs

Monday – leftovers

Tuesday – “grilled” chicken tenders, mac & cheese, veggie

Wednesday – fish filets, roasted red potatoes, steamed broccoli

Thursday – chicken pot pie

I’m really going to try to start blogging regularly again. I’ve realized over the last week or so that this is the only written record of our children’s lives. This is where we turn for stats, milestones, funny sayings or stories. So, I need to catch up with them. We’ll see how it plays out.

Happy Monday everyone!

So, now it’s time for me to feed my family again, and that means back to menu planning. This is what we’re eating this week…

Saturday – lunch: fend / dinner: BBQ, fries, cinnamon apples

Sunday – lunch: leftovers / dinner: small group – breakfast

Monday – chicken broccoli cheese casserole, rolls

Tuesday – leftover casserole

Wednesday – spaghetti

Thursday – either waffles and bacon or bacon, eggs, & biscuits

Friday – pizza

Happy Monday!

I have several posts from the last few months that I need to get up for memory’s sake. Hopefully, I can get beyond this extended and unintentional bloggy break and back to posting regularly.

For now we’ll start with Menu Plan Monday. Here’s what we’ll be dining on this week…

Monday: tortellini soup, grilled cheese sandwiches

Tuesday: sweet & sour chicken, veggie fried rice

Wednesday: leftover soup

Thursday: leftover s&s chicken and fried rice

Friday: homemade pizza

Saturday: lunch: quesadillas / dinner: country fried steak, mashed potatoes, green peas, biscuits

Sunday: lunch: sandwiches / dinner: life group (to be decided)

For more menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com. Happy Monday!

Let’s visit Little’s fourth birthday one last time…

Since Boo’s birthday in April, Little had told me that she wanted a rainbow cake for her birthday. I had it all planned out in my mind – ways to ensure all the layers of the cake turned out (unlike Boo’s), what icing to make, how to decorate it, what to serve it on. Then, the Saturday morning prior to her birthday she and I were out running an errand and on the way home she told me that she changed her mind, she wanted cupcakes instead.

I kicked back into idea mode and began figuring out what kind of cupcakes we might make. I considered borrowing the Wilton Big Cupcake cake pan, but Little really wanted individual cupcakes. Next, I thought of those pull-apart cakes where you use a shaped pan to make a variety of different cupcakes that make one “cake” (yeah, that description isn’t great, this is what I’m talking about). Finally I settled on just plain ol’ cupcakes.

The next challenge was finding a strawberry cake recipe. I have a recipe from my grandmother that I really like, but it uses gelatin and boxed cake mix. Since we are trying to limit our processed food consumption I was trying to find a recipe that was truly a from-scratch recipe. Thanks to dear ole Google, I stumbled upon a recipe at A Dash of Sass and it was wonderful.

Since we weren’t doing a rainbow cake I decided to do several colors of icing so the cupcakes would look pretty in the cupcake stand. I settled on vibrant blue, pink, purple, and green. I was very pleased with the colors. (the icing is a double batch of Wilton’s buttercream icing made fairly stiff and divided into fourths for tinting)

I used a large tip to pipe the icing on in swirls. (Funny story – the couplers I had were too small for my decorating tip. I had to forcefully hold the tip on the bag with one hand while piping the swirls. As long as I held it in place tight enough everything was fine, but if the tip slipped icing went everywhere) Then I placed the cupcakes on the stand. Matt added some sprinkles to the blue iced cupcake on top – per the birthday girl’s request. The candles were put in place and lit.

All that remained was the blowing out of the candles and the eating of the cupcakes.

Based on the icing on faces and the rapid rate of cupcake depletion, I’m pretty sure they were a hit.

Welcome to Monday. It’s time, once again, to join the Menu Plan Monday carnival hosted by orgjunkie.com.

I sat outside Thursday morning while the kiddos played and made my menu plan for the month of May. This is the second month I’ve done a plan for the entire month, and I really like menu planning this way. It makes creating my weekly grocery list so much easier (since I don’t have to menu plan at the same time), and it’s a great way to make sure we have plenty of variety throughout the month.

So, here’s what we’ll be dining on this week…

Saturday lunch: sandwiches, chips
Saturday dinner: crunchy onion chicken tenders, green beans, sweet potato fries

Sunday lunch: meatball subs, chips
Sunday dinner: life group – build your own nachos

Monday: BLTS, carrots/broccoli and ranch dip

Tuesday: me – BSF fellowship, Matt & kids – pizza

Wednesday: biscuits, bacon, and eggs

Thursday: cajun trout, rice pilaf, steamed veggies

Friday: naan bread pizzas

Saturday lunch: sandwiches, veggies or chips
Saturday dinner: marinated shrimp skewers, brown rice, green peas

For more meal and menu plan ideas, head over to Menu Plan Monday.

Several weeks before the birthday Matt sent me the link to a great rainbow cake and told me that he thought I should make it for Boo’s birthday. I debated and debated what to do for his cake and finally decided that I would, indeed, attempt to recreate the rainbow cake. (check out the link in the first sentence; the rest of the post will make more sense if you see the “idea” cake.)

I, as I tend to do, waited until the last minute to set to work on said cake. As in I was looking at the recipe and buying the ingredients the morning of his birthday.

First things first. When I read the recipe thoroughly I noticed that it was going to take 19 egg whites, yes, nineteen. I decided that instead of making the cooked buttercream in the recipe I would make Wilton’s buttercream and use lemon extract instead of vanilla to flavor it. That part worked fine and the icing was very tasty.

As for the cake itself. I gathered all of my ingredients, my gel food coloring, my Kitchenaid stand mixer, and my new kitchen scale. I prepared the cake batter (of course, all three kids woke up from naps right as I started putting ingredients in the bowl) and set it on the scale. I figured in my head the weight I would need to make each layer in order to get six colored layers.

I divided the first couple of layers out and added the appropriate food colors (red and orange). I oiled the pans as directed and popped them in the oven to bake. While those two layers were in the oven I prepared the yellow layer and got it in my third cake pan and then set to work dividing and coloring the green and blue layers.

As I weighed the batter for the green layer I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough batter to make both a blue and a purple layer as well. Oh well, five layers would be fine, not a big deal.

Meanwhile, the red and orange layers are out of the oven and have cooled in the pans for about 10 minutes. I flipped the pans to release the cakes onto the cooling rack and the cakes didn’t budge. I ran a table knife around the edges of the pans and tried again. Still nothing. I put the pans upside down on the cooling rack and banged on the bottom of each pan. Nada. Finally, I scraped the red and orange cakes out of the pans and ended up with piles of cake crumbles, very sticky cake crumbles (which tasted delicious, by the way).

At this point the yellow layer was in the oven. I tried to decide if there was anything I could do to salvage the crumbled layers or if I should just scrap the idea and go buy a cake. After much deliberation it was decided that the cake preparations would continue and we would just go with whatever we ended up with (even if that meant cake crumbs instead of a cake). So, when I prepared the pans for the green and blue layers I greased and floured them to see if that would make them release better.

The yellow layer came out of the oven and Matt was able to (very) delicately work on the cake and get it out of the pan in one piece. One down, two to go.

The green and blue layers finished baking and cooling, and I set to work trying to remove them from the pans. The greasing and flouring of pans did not make a bit of difference; they were just as stuck as the other layers. Matt again worked his cake releasing magic and we had three layers for the cake.

I moved the yellow layer from the cooling rack to the glass plate on which I was going to assemble the cake. The plan was to let the green and blue layers cool and then assemble the cake as green layer on the bottom, yellow layer in the middle, and blue layer on top. When I went to pick up the yellow layer to put the green layer on the plate, the yellow layer was not going to come off easily. Scratch that idea.

We ended up with a yummy cake composed of yellow, green, and blue layers. It wasn’t exactly what I set out to create, but it was a delicious cake (the lemony icing was a perfect complement to the cake) and we ate every bite. Most importantly, Boo really liked it.

We spent this weekend in Nashville visiting with family. It was a lot of fun getting to see everyone (Matt’s parents, my parents, all of our grandparents, Lu’s hubby, and various other family members), but I am tired!

Anyway, here’s what we’ll be dining on this week…

Sunday: lunch – out / dinner – pepperoni naan bread pizzas

Monday: lasagna, garlic naan bread

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: sweet & sour chicken, asian style veggies

Thursday: tilapia tacos, rice, chips & guacamole

Friday: homemade pizza

As always, for more menu plans and meal ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday.

I hope everyone is having a happy Monday. Have a great week!

So, here’s what’s on the menu these days at chez sidetrack’d…

Thursday – Naan Bread Pizzas

Friday – California Pizza Kitchen pizza

Saturday – lunch: fend for yourselves / dinner: homemade pizza

Sunday – lunch: turkey sandwiches / dinner: fend for yourselves

Monday – mahi mahi skewers, spanish rice, guacamole

Tuesday – leftovers

Wednesday – salads with grilled chicken

Thursday – lasagna, breadsticks

And, yes, we really do like pizza that much!

I haven’t joined in Menu Plan Monday the last couple of weeks because, due to various and sundry things, our menu just kept rolling over and looked pretty much just like the last one I posted. Now we’re in a new month, and Matt and I have changed up our menu planning/shopping strategy a bit; this month we created a month long menu plan.

Our original goal was to do the majority of our shopping for the month this weekend, but since we didn’t start working on everything until Friday afternoon we weren’t able to quite get that accomplished. What we ended up doing was our usual weekly grocery trip plus a trip to Whole Foods to get our meat for the month. Hopefully, I can get everything organized and do our staple shopping for the month this coming weekend and then pick up milk and produce (and any items on special that we would like to have) once or twice a week for the remainder of the month.

This is our first experiment in monthly menu planning, so we’ll see how it goes.

All of that to say, this is what we’ll be eating this week…

Friday – toasted ravioli

Saturday – breakfast for dinner: bacon, eggs, and homemade biscuits

Sunday – lunch: pizza / dinner: Easter meal with friends

Monday – shrimp & grits

Tuesday – enchilada casserole, chips & guacamole

Wednesday – leftovers

Thursday – hamburgers on the grill, corn on the cob

For more menu plan and meal ideas visit Menu Plan Monday. As always, thanks, Laura for hosting!

I need to clean out the freezer to make space for more groceries. So, this week our menu consists largely of meals carried over from last week and meals that we have in our freezer.

Friday: pizza
Saturday: lunch: sandwiches / dinner: cheeseburger meatloaf, potatoes, peas
Sunday: lunch: fend / dinner: chicken & rice casserole (freezer), crescent rolls
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: deconstructed broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken breasts, corn
Wednesday: tacos, guacamole, chips & salsa
Thursday: baked creamy mostacolli (freezer), vegetable

For more meal/menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com.

Happy Monday!

For several years we made bread by hand occasionally, but mainly relied on store bought bread for everyday use. Then, several months after Little was born, we decided we wanted to cut some of the HFCS and preservatives from our diet, and I began baking all of our sandwich bread.

Enter Boo and many months of sleepless nights, and we were back to buying bread at the grocery. And as much as we like Oroweat bread, paying $3.50 a loaf began to wear on the grocery budget.

So, for Christmas I asked my parents if they would buy me a bread maker. I love this appliance! We bake bread at least twice a week, and it is wonderful to have fresh bread available for toast, sandwiches, etc.

For the last couple of months we’ve been testing wheat bread recipes for the bread maker, and a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a winner. This recipe makes soft, fluffy, tasty bread that everyone in our family enjoys.

Wheat Bread for the Bread Machine
adapted from this recipe

* 1-1/2 cup warm water
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
* 2 cups all purpose or bread flour
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
* 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients (except yeast) in bread maker pan in order listed. Make an indention in center of dry ingredients and spoon yeast into the indention. Set bread maker to 2 lb. loaf on whole wheat cycle.

Let the bread maker do it’s thing and then enjoy some warm, yummy homemade bread.

Welcome to a new week! It is starting to warm up a little in these parts, and I am so ready for Spring! Here’s the yummies we’ll be dining on this week…

Friday: pizza
Saturday: lunch: sandwiches, chips / dinner: creamy baked mostacolli, snap peas
Sunday: lunch: leftovers / dinner: fend for yourself
Monday: chicken and dumpling casserole, salad
Tuesday: leftover casserole
Wednesday: cheeseburger meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green peas
Thursday: deconstructed broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken breasts, corn

For more menu ideas visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

I’m running late today, but I do have a menu to post. Here’s what we’re eating this week…

Friday – take out pizza

Saturday – lunch: eat out / dinner: meatball stew and grilled cheese

Sunday – lunch: eat out / dinner: fend for yourselves

Monday – leftover meatball stew, grilled cheese

Tuesday – chicken & broccoli macaroni, corn on the cob

Wednesday – tacos, guacamole, chips & salsa

Thursday – leftovers

We’re still carrying over the chicken & broccoli meal because we didn’t need it again last week. Our weekend involved more dining out/take out than we usually have due to my Mom visiting; we were out running around more than we usually do.

For more meal and menu ideas check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

Happy Monday!

It’s Monday again, and I’ve got a plan for our menu. Last week we had a few more leftovers than I anticipated, so there are a couple of carry overs on our menu this week.

The creamy mexican casserole that we tried last week was very good. I used a pound of ground beef instead of the chicken called for in the recipe and it worked out well (although it would probably be just as good with only a half pound of beef). If you like things spicy you probably want to add some ground cayenne pepper in with the spices; Matt and I added hot salsa to our servings so that the casserole wouldn’t be too spicy for the kids. This would make a great potluck or party dish, too, since it can be eaten with tortilla chips.

Anyway, here’s what’s on our menu this week.

Saturday: lunch: rolled tacos / dinner: meatball subs, fries
Sunday: lunch: leftovers / dinner: chicken nugget casserole, noodles, corn
Monday: enchilada casserole, chips & guacamole, salsa
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: chicken & broccoli macaroni, salad
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: pizza

I’ve been craving buffalo chicken dip for a few weeks now, so I might make a dish this week and throw it in there somewhere. And, of course, I’ll be making several loaves of bread (thanks to my handy, dandy bread machine) including a couple of new recipes (hopefully).

That’s my plan for the week. For more meal and menu plan ideas hop over to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com and see what everyone else is eating this week.

Happy Monday!

I’m running a little behind here, but better late than never. Right?

Here’s what we’re eating this week…

Saturday: lunch: fend / dinner: broccoli cheese soup, homemade bread

Sunday: lunch: rolled tacos / dinner: roast, potatoes, carrots

Monday: leftover roast

Tuesday: creamy mexican casserole (I’m using ground beef instead of chicken)

Wednesday: chicken & broccoli macaroni (carry over from last week)

Thursday: chicken nugget casserole, spaghetti noodles, corn on the cob

Friday: pizza

I have several new recipes on the menu this week, so hopefully it will be a tasty week around here. I did make the broccoli cheese soup Saturday night, and, although things got a bit stressful at the end when the soup was thickening and the baby was hungry, it was very tasty. The onion was a bit strong for my taste, so next time we’ll cut it drastically or leave it out all together.

For meal and menu plan inspiration visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

Happy Monday!

It’s been almost a month since I’ve participated in Menu Plan Monday. For the first three weeks of baby girl’s life we were blessed by many friends who brought dinner to our family. Last week we were able to eat primarily from the stock of meals I had frozen prior to her birth. This week we will actually have to do some cooking, and I had to rejoin the ranks of menu planners.

So, here’s what we’re eating:

Saturday: lunch: leftover pizza from Friday night / dinner: kids – scrambled eggs & grapefruit sections, adults – fend for yourselves

Sunday: lunch: loaded baked potato soup, homemade bread / dinner: taquitos

Monday: leftover soup and bread

Tuesday: meatloaf, au gratin potatoes, green peas

Wednesday: chicken and broccoli macaroni, green salad

Thursday: french toast, strawberry smoothies

Friday: pizza

For more meal ideas and menu plans visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

Have a great week!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted a menu plan (or much of anything for that matter), but here we go again…

Monday – Paula Deen’s chicken and rice casserole, rolls

Tuesday – casserole leftovers

Wednesday – chili, chips, and cheese

Thursday – pizza (our Christmas Eve tradition)

Friday – breakfast: cinnamon rolls / lunch: Christmas meal** / dinner (if necessary): meatball stew

Saturday – breakfast: breakfast casserole / lunch: Christmas leftovers / dinner: eat out or fend

Sunday – lunch: eat out / dinner: meatball subs, fries

**Christmas meal: ham, rolls, pineapple casserole, homemade mac & cheese, green bean casserole, knock-off cranberry bliss bars, Boston cream cake, apple orchard punch, tea

I’ll also be cooking/baking a couple batches of chex mix, a double batch of pumpkin scones, and cinnamon rolls this week. It’s going to be a busy week, but we’ll eat well!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

For menu plans and meal ideas visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com

Happy Monday! We’ve been fighting a yucky cold around here for the last week or so, but hopefully everyone is on the mend now and we’re ready to start a new week. Here’s what we’ll be dining on this week:

Saturday – lunch: sandwiches, chips / dinner: tacos, guac, salsa, chips, etc.

Sunday – lunch: chicken & dumpling casserole / dinner: fend for yourselves

Monday – taco leftovers

Tuesday – biscuits, bacon, scrambled eggs

Wednesday – pot roast with potatoes and carrots

Thursday – leftover roast

Friday – grocery night, so probably pizza

For more meal/menu ideas visit Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. Hope you have a great week!

Happy Monday! It’s time for another edition of Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. Here’s what’s on our menu for the week.

Saturday – lunch: frozen pizza / dinner: sloppy joes, fries (carry over from last week)

Sunday – lunch: sandwiches on croissants, chips / dinner: fend for yourselves

Monday – chicken and dumpling casserole, salad

Tuesday – leftovers

Wednesday – Simply Lasagna, garlic bread

Thursday – leftovers

Friday – pizza, leftovers, or something quick (grocery night)

Hope everyone has a great week!

Welcome to the first Monday in November! I was just getting used to it being October and the next thing I know, it’s November already. What’s up with that?!

Once again, this week I’m posting our menu plan and linking up with Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. Here’s our plan for the week…

Monday – country fried steak, mashed potatoes, green peas, homemade biscuits

Tuesday – pizza or sandwiches for Matt and the kids, Bible study fellowship for me

Wednesday – sloppy joes, fries, corn

Thursday – leftovers night

Last week’s meatball stew was very tasty. I was quite pleased with how the recipe came together, and this will probably become our go-to recipe for vegetable beef soup. The only change I would make is decreasing the black pepper by a 1/2 tsp or so. I am a big pepper fan, and it was a little too peppery for me. Otherwise, this is a recipe I would definitely recommend.

Happy November! Have a great week, everyone!

A new week begins which means it’s time to post another menu plan and join in the Menu Plan Monday carnival at orgjunkie.com. Somehow our menu last week got all wopsidoodled, so there are several meals this week that are carry-overs.

Here’s what we’re eating this week:

Friday – frozen convenience meals (grocery night)
Saturday – lunch: turkey sandwiches on croissants, chips / dinner: eat out
Sunday – lunch: fend for yourselves / dinner: Fallapalooza (church Fall festival)
Monday – baked potato soup, homemade bread
Tuesday – soup leftovers
Wednesday – King Ranch chicken, mexican rice, black beans
Thursday – leftovers
Friday – meatball stew and grilled cheese sandwiches

Last week’s pot roast with maple sweet potatoes and cider gravy was very good. I had to cook the roast for about 3.5 hours instead of the 2.5 hours in the recipe, so I ended up a little short on liquid when I went to make the gravy (I supplemented with additional cider and it was fine). Everyone in the family enjoyed the meal, so it’s a keeper. However, next time I will probably use some sweet potatoes and some white potatoes since Matt isn’t a big sweet potato fan.

For more menu inspiration visit Menu Plan Monday. Have a great week!