Saturday Yummm...Billy's Amazing Pizzas...

Billy's amazingly good taco pizza

One of the things we've missed most during the time we've been without an oven is Billy's amazing pizza creations.  Today we had two of our favorites...taco pizza and chicken/bacon alfredo pizza.  Yummmm.  We're split about equally as far as who prefers what.  The taco pizza is definitely my fave.  Everyone's runner-up favorite is his meatball pizza.  We'll have one of those soon. :)

So thankful for a husband who loves to cook and who cooks well!  I'm always glad to share the kitchen with him. :)  And thankful every day for our kitchen surprises! 

Forgot to get a picture of the Alfredo pizza before we cut it...this is what was left. :)

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Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Breaded Chicken and Cucumber/Tomato Salad
Tuesday: *Big Batch Beef Sauce* Spaghetti, Cheese Bread, Green Beans
Wednesday: Enchiladas and Rice
Thursday: Brat Stew (smoked sausage, cream of mushroom soup, milk, chopped potatoes, chopped or shredded carrots, green beans, minced onion,shredded cheddar cheese)
Friday: Poor Man Steaks and Squash Casserole

See more menus for the week at here.

ETA a few recipes...:)

Yummy Enchiladas

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz. tub sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1 pkg. mexican blend cheese
1 pkg. flour tortillas

Brown beef with diced onion and salt/pepper. Drain beef/onions. Mix together remaining ingredients except cheese/tortillas and mix well. Add 1/2 cup sauce and 1 cup cheese to meat and mix. Spray or grease 13x 9 pan and spread one cup sauce in bottom. Fill enchiladas with meat mixture, roll, and pour remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 30 min. at 350.

(This is one of Billy's favorite enchilada recipes, modified a bit from a recipe from a friend at church. It is one of our standbys.)

Cornbread Squash Casserole

3 cups cooked, mashed yellow squash (about 6 medium)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2/3 stick butter or margarine
2 T sugar
1tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 5/8 cup crumbled cornbread (Jiffy Mix suggested)
1 cup evaporated milk
3 eggs
2 cups cheddar cheese, divided

Saute onion and pepper in butter till soft. In large bowl, mix squash, sugar, salt, pepper, cornbread, milk, eggs, and 1 cup cheese. Add onion, pepper, and butter mixture and stir to mix. Pour into a greased 10 x 12 inch baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 min. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake an additional 10 minutes.

(This is a new recipe for us. It is a copycat recipe from a local restaurant which was posted on our homeschool loop after running in the paper.)

Menu Plan Monday...

I didn't stay on track as well as I needed to last week...thus you will see some of the same items on the menu because we didn't eat them last week. (Some we did have last week and are just having again. :))

Monday:

B: Cereal

L: Out (Birthday Party)

S: Hoagies and Salad

Tuesday:

B: Cinnamon/Cheese Roll-Ups

L: Tuna Sandwiches/Cottage Cheese

S: Fajitas, Rice, Refried Beans

Wednesday:

B: Oatmeal

L: ?? Gone to Used Book Sale

S: Tilapia, Slaw, Beans

Thursday:

B: Scrambled Eggs/toast

L: Nachos

S: Chicken Patties, Baked Mashies, Salad, Green Beans

Friday:

B: Yogurt Smoothies

L: Tortilla Roll-Ups

S: King Ranch Casserole

Snacks:

Rice Cakes, Protein Balls, No-Bakes, Muffins, Crackers and Pepperoni, Fruit

Thanks to Laura at Orgjunkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday!

Monkey Cake

The Monkey Cake recipe, as promised...

(This was originally titled Nutty Banana Bread Squares, but we renamed it Monkey Cake. :-))

1/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large whole egg
2 large egg whites
2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 large, very-ripe bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
3. In large mixing bowl, beat well with an electric mixer the melted butter and sugar.
4. Add the egg and egg whites; beat on high 1 min.
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cr. of tartar, and salt. Gently add to the butter-sugar mixture.
6. Beat on low speed, just until mixed.
7. Peel and mash bananas. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture into the batter.
8. Beat until just mixed.
9. Pour into prepared pan.
10. Sprinkle nuts over the top.
11. Bake 35-40 min., or until top is golden brown and bread springs back. Let cool on cooling rack. Cut into squares when cool.
(from www.kidnetic.com )

We used chopped pecans instead of walnuts, because that is what we had, and because we like them better. :) And because part of our bunch doesn't care for nuts, we only sprinkled nuts on half the cake. I am planning to try this with a cream cheese frosting someday....it was great without it, but I think it would also be great with it. :)

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Let me know what you think if you try it...:)

Menu Plan Monday...

I was really disappointed this morning to realize that I had missed out on the opportunity to participate in Menu Plan Monday...because I posted my menus on Sunday night! However, thanks to the fact that I have one less loaf of bread than I thought I had (the crew was apparently hungrier than usual last night!), I now have the perfect opportunity to re-post our *new* menu for the week and be part of Menu Plan Monday! I hope I'm doing this right...I'm not sure how to post the MPM banner in my post, but I'll work on it. :)

ETA: I have tried to figure out how to post the MPM banner in my post and my Monday Morning Mush-Brain can't seem to do it. If someone would give me instructions in a comment (or link to instructions for me), I would be *ever* so grateful!! Thanks!!!

Monday:
B--Cinnamon/Cheese Roll-ups
L--Nachos and Refried Beans, Carrot Sticks and Ranch
S--Brat Stew, French Bread, salad
Sn--Rice Cakes, fruit, smoothies

Tuesday:
B--Oatmeal/Toast
L--Baked Potato Bar
S--Tacos, Nachos, Taco Salad
Sn--Trail Mix, Banana Cake

Wednesday:
B--Scrambled Eggs/Toast
L--Cheesy Rice, Carrot Sticks and Ranch Dressing
S--King Ranch Casserole, Green Beans, Salad
Sn--Trail Mix, fruit, protein balls

Thursday:
B--Scrambled Eggs/Oatmeal
L--Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, Mac and Cheese
S--Tilapia, Cole Slaw, Green Beans
Sn--Tortilla spirals, No-Bakes

Friday:
B--Cinnamon/Cheese Roll-Ups
L--Tuna and Cottage Cheese, homemade *Rice-a-Roni*, fruit
S--Twice Baked Potatoes, Loaded Salad
Sn--No-Bakes, Muffins

What We're Eating...

Maybe if I post our weekly menus, I'll stick to them a little better. :) Here is the plan for this week:

Monday:
B--Cinnamon/Cheese Roll-ups
L--Peanut Butter sandwiches and chips
S--Brat Stew, French Bread, salad
Sn--Rice Cakes, fruit, smoothies

Tuesday:
B--Oatmeal/Toast
L--Baked Potato Bar
S--Tacos, Nachos, Taco Salad
Sn--Trail Mix, Banana Cake

Wednesday:
B--Scrambled Eggs/Toast
L--Cheesy Rice, Carrot Sticks and Ranch Dressing
S--King Ranch Casserole, Green Beans, Salad
Sn--Trail Mix, fruit, protein balls

Thursday:
B--Scrambled Eggs/Oatmeal
L--Nachos with Refried Beans, Carrot Sticks and Ranch
S--Tilapia, Cole Slaw, Green Beans
Sn--Tortilla spirals, No-Bakes

Friday:
B--Cinnamon/Cheese Roll-Ups
L--Tuna and Cottage Cheese, homemade *Rice-a-Roni*, fruit
S--Twice Baked Potatoes, Loaded Salad
Sn--No-Bakes, Muffins

I'll report back on Friday on how well I stick to it. :)