Month ahead mom

I am striving to become a "month ahead mom"  meaning I make and plan all my dinners a month in advance. I am have achieved 2-week ahead mom today! Yay me! Chicken was on major sale this week so I purchased about 8lbs Cooked it up in varying forms and froze it so it is ready to go during the week.  I found a website where a mom makes food for a month and was inspired to try it is not as easy as it seems. You have to be organized, real organized and you have to be willing to spend several hours cooking and cleaning up after you "blow up the kitchen".  After I made chicken in many varieties, I made taco meat and some egg wraps for the bfast.  Then for a football lunch yummy Italian pull apart bread!

Here is how that goes

Italian Pull apart bread

1 loaf of Italian bread
8 oz canned mushrooms slices
1/2 med onion minced
8 oz sliced provolone cheese
3 oz sliced peperoni

1 tbs thyme
1tsp garlic powder
1/4c. dried chives
1/2 c. butter

Preheat oven to 350
1. Cut the loaf of bread lengthwise being careful not cut right through then cut in the opposite direction creating a grid of sorts.
2. Saute the onion and mushrooms in 2tbls of butter once onion is transculent stir in thyme, set aside.
3.  Insert pieces of the cheese into the slits in the bread, then do the same with the pepperoni, then the mushroom mix.
4. Melt the remaining butter and add the chives & garlic powder, drizzle butter mixture on top of the loaf.
5. Wrap the loaf in AL foil bake 15 minutes, remove foil and bake again for 10 minutes.

the entire family loved it!

Welcome Fall

Is it apple season???? Maybe apple season started a few weeks ago either way I am always a little late to get started.  I like to do my apple picking when the air is crisp and it actually feels like Fall, I feel as though it is a fall activity.  I am not a fan of that mixed up time between summer and Fall, one day it is humid the next crisp and cool.  I actually have not been apple picking but others have shared their harvest with me so I have an abundance of apples.  While trying to figure out what to do with all the apple's I have, I stumbled across a recipe for Apple pull apart bread.  It was not exactly what I was looking for but I made it my own.   Here it is

Apple Pull Apart Bread


3 apples of any variety you choose diced into small pieces (3 medium sized apples should end up with 3-4 cups diced apples).

2tbs of flour

2tbs sugar

2 packages of store bought busicuits (16 buscuits total) I used Pilsbury Homestyle Grands

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2tsp nutmeg
1/4c. powder sugar
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a bundt pan.

2. Dice apples and add 2tbs of flour and sugar to the apples.

3. Roll out each buscuit to a 4-5 inch circle and place ~2tbs of apple mixture int he center. Seal the buscuit up by folding in all the edges so no apple can escape. Repeat for each busciut.

4. In a small bowl mix 1/2c. sugar, the cinnamon and nutmeg, roll each buscuit with the apple filling in the mixture. Place apple balls in a ring in the pan (make two rings).

5. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over the top

6. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes remove and cover with foil bake for another 35 minutes (total baking time 55minutes)

7. Let cool 5 minutes, remove from pan and sprinkle with powder sugar.

Yummigoodness  and when it is baking wow doe sthe house smell good   Welcome FALL!!!!

Easy peasy

It has been a while since I posted here so since I am still on a mission to type up all my recipe ideas here are few that have been staples in our house lately.

Twice Baked Potato's
I found this idea on another website and I made it my own.
I make these ahead of time and freeze them, then thaw and cook as needed.

8 baking potato's washed

1C. shredded cheddar

1/2 C. sour cream

1/2C. Ranch Dressing
1/4 C. butter

S&P as desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and wash the potato's
Bake potato's for ~1hr or until soft. Times may vary depending on potato size.

Once baking is completed, slice potato in half, remove inside of potato and place in a large bowl leaving just potato skins.
Mash, smash and mix potato, cheddar, sour cream, butter, ranch and S&P. Do not whip.

Refill the skins with the mixture, bake at 350 for 20 minutes OR freeze, when ready to use thaw, and cook at 350 for 20 minutes.



Here is another easy one fix it and forget it

Bake Acorn Squash
2 acorn squash - do not peel
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 stick butter
Preheat oven to 400
Slice acorn squash in half and remove the seeds.
Place the 4 halves of squash on a baking sheet, add 2tblsp brown sugar and 2 tbs butter into the center of each squash.
Bake for 60 minutes or until the squash is soft (times may vary depending on size of squash)

Remove from oven stir the vegetable and the butter sugar right inside peel and enjoy.

kid tested - 3.5