Menu Monday!

-



I had lasagna on my menu last week. I made sure I had the noodles and cottage cheese, the spaghetti sauce and meat. I planned to make it Saturday. It was not until Saturday morning that I realized I had completely forgot to purchase the cheese.. sigh.. Living in the country means I don't just hop in the car and head to store for one item. So lasagna is on my menu again this week, after grocery shopping day! :)

I will not be having Thanksgiving dinner at my home this year. Feels very strange not to be planning this! But honestly the break is nice. The main reason is I'm not sure if I'll be here or in California. My daughter Hannah told me not to worry about it, she will do it at her house. The family can meet together at her home and if we are here, we, of course, will just join in.

The thoughts of Thanksgiving and turkey prompted me to buy a turkey breast, again. We had one a few weeks ago. This time I bought some stuffing as well. I think I do a little mini Thanksgiving dinner this week.


Here is what my menu for the week is looking like...


Turkey Dinner
Turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, salad.. all in small amounts.

Lasagna
My basic recipe, but I'm still planning on trying to cook one in the Instant Pot, just to see how that goes. The other in the oven. I suspect that it is probably just as easy to do it in the oven, unless one small lasagna is all that is needed. The one in IP would be perfect for 2 people.

Meatloaf
It will be as simple meal of meatloaf, rice pilaf, and a veggie of some sort.

Chicken Soup
I love my Instant Pot for making soup. I have some bone in chicken legs that I'll use to make the broth and maybe add a little more chicken meat to the pot (boneless skinless thighs), plus lots of veggies. French bread and a salad will be served on the side.

That should do it for the week! How's your menu planning going?


Comments

  1. AliceNovember 7, 2016 at 5:52 AM

    Hi Crystal,
    I'm using and loving my Instant Pot a lot. I'm really wondering if it would be possible to cook a small stouffers veggie lasagna in the pot. Perhaps putting it on the rack?? How about some of the other frozen foods that have an aluminum pan? Could I cook it in another stone casserole (on the rack)if I popped it out of the aluminum (or some have the hard cardboardlike ovensafe pan) and put it in the casserole pan? I know this works for cheesecakes but I'm just wondering how far I can extend the concept for other foods that I don't want sitting in a cup of water in the bottom of the pan. Do you think a stonewear oven pan could work in a pressure cooker?

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
  2. CrystalNovember 7, 2016 at 6:05 AM

    I'm so glad you are loving your IP Alice!! As far as I understand anything that is oven proof will be just fine in the IP. My daughter in law cooked a quiche in an aluminum pan and said it turned out great.. and yes.. putting it on the rack is the way to go.. just make sure you have a cup or two of water in the bottom. You always have to have water/liquid in a pressure cooker. Let me know how it goes! Crystal :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 7, 2016 at 6:21 PM

    After reading the great reviews of instant pot I'm considering getting one. Is it easy to use if I have no prior experience with this type of cooking? I like that I can make nutritious meals quickly. Do you have any tips?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalNovember 7, 2016 at 7:44 PM

      Yes it is easy to use.. but there is a learning curve to it. I had no previous experience with using it. I have lots of tips. I'm thinking this would make a great blog post.. so stay tuned... :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine to
Read more

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this
Read more

Dishwasher Soap Sub

-
Image
One of the most common emails I receive is ladies asking if I have a good homemade substitute for dishwasher detergent. After making my own homemade laundry detergent and having such great success I was eager to try and find something that worked as well in my dishwasher. I found and tried a couple different recipes. I was not happy with the results at all. The most common recipe I came across was a combination of washing soda, borax and citric acid (some recipes used Kool-Aid in place of the citric acid). What I discovered is that this combination left a cloudy film all over my dishes that was hard as heck to remove. I quickly went back to Cascade and gave up trying to find a substitute. Well, last week I ran out of dishwasher soap. Because I live rurally just hopping in the car to run and pick up one item is out of the question. Plus, at that point my hand had not healed enough to be able to drive (I have a stick shift and could not shift with my right hand). I had
Read more